


My Life As a Vampire

by JatieFantasy



Category: Big Time Rush
Genre: F/M, Family, Friendship, Growing Up, Humor, Little Katie, Mates, Orphaned, Romance, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-15
Updated: 2015-03-09
Packaged: 2017-12-05 08:36:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/721045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JatieFantasy/pseuds/JatieFantasy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The guys are vampires, living on their own, but when Kendall's parents are killed in a fire, they take in Katie, his baby sister, and vow to raise her. But things get complicated when they discover that James and Katie are mates...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Science-Fantasy93: Welcome to our new story! It's cute, cuddly, and will probably make you want to cry from the sheer adorable-ness of everything.
> 
> Jatieluv: Very true. Katie is just the cutest thing ever!
> 
> Science-Fantasy93: Squeals. I just want to pick her up and cuddle her! Unfortunately...that's not working out so well
> 
> Jatieluv: Nods head. Be careful...she has fangs...cute, tiny fangs...Awww!
> 
> Science-Fantasy93: Sniffs and wipes eyes SO CUTE!
> 
> Jatieluv: Well, we hope you guys like it as much as we do!

**James' POV**

I remember the day like it was yesterday. I never knew why, for the longest time. I suppose it's because that's the day my life changed forever.

That cold, winter day, Kendall came running up the steps to Diamond estate, where we lived, a large wrapped bundle curled up in his arms.

"Whatcha got there?" Carlos asked.

Kendall hugged the bundle even closer to his chest. "My 2 year old sister."

Carlos jumped up and ran over to Kendall, peering into the blanket she was wrapped in. "Aww! She's so cute!"

Kendall cradled her to his chest even tighter, his green eyes watery.

"What happened?" Logan asked.

"Mom and Dad died in a fire. I don't know how it started. She...she survived...but I'm all she's got now." He sniffed.

"How did she...?" Logan trailed off.

"I don't know...No one seems to know, but I think she must've crawled out."

"We'll help you with her," Carlos offered. "She's completely adorable!"

Kendall smiled slightly as I came around the corner curiously. "Thanks. I have a feeling I'm going to need all the help I can get."

"What's her name?" I asked quietly as he unwrapped the blankets. A tiny girl with brown hair and large brown eyes was laying in his arms, snuggled up to him. She was the cutest thing I had ever seen, and suddenly, all I wanted to do was cuddle her.

She looked up at me and pushed away from Kendall a little. She looked at him before turning back to me and reaching her arms out for me to take her.

I glanced at Kendall. "Can I?"

He nodded, looking surprised. "Go for it."

I cautiously pulled her out of Kendall's arms and cradled her in mine. She reached up one chubby hand to touch my face. "She's so pretty," I murmured to Kendall.

He smiled weakly. "Isn't she? Her name's Katie."

"Why do you look so surprised?" Logan asked.

"Cuz she's normally really shy."

"Not with James," Carlos commented as Katie grabbed at my hand.

I laughed a little and let her take my hand.

"Maybe I'm just special," I teased them.

She started coughing and Logan looked at her.

"She's probably doing that because of the smoke from the fire. I should probably check her out to make sure," he said walking over and reaching for her.

"Kenny," she whimpered, reaching for Kendall.

I handed her back to Kendall, but I immediately missed her warmth and her weight.

She gripped him tightly.

"Shh, it's okay," he said, rubbing her back. He shifted her so she could see Logan. "This is Logan, he's a doctor. Wanna say hi?"

She looked at Kendall and he nodded. She turned back to Logan. "Hi," she said cutely.

"Hey there little one," Logan cooed back.

"So, what do I need to do for her?" Kendall asked worriedly.

"I just want to make sure she doesn't have a bunch of smoke in her lungs and check her breathing," he told him. "I'll go get what I need, you can hold her."

Carlos made a funny face at her and she giggled.

"I think she likes you guys," Kendall said, smiling down at her. "She already seems to be attached to James, she's laughing at Carlos, and she's said hi to Logan."

"And we like her," I cooed, more to her than to Kendall.

She giggled and reached for my hand again. "Kenny," she said, looking up at him while still holding my hand. "Hungwy."

"Do you want blood?" he asked her sweetly.

She shook her head and scrunched her little nose. "Want peanut jewwy."

"I'll make it," I offered. "Does she like white bread?"

He nodded. "Yeah, that's her favorite."

I grinned. "Totally pinned it! I'll go make it."

"Oh, make sure you put a lot of peanut butter, use grape jelly and I have a sippy cup in the cabinet for her. Can you get her some milk?"

"Sure thing!" I headed towards the kitchen, hearing Katie giggle again. I got out the bread, peanut butter, and the grape jelly, along with a spoon, and went to work on her sandwich. Because I was feeling...well, I guess sweet...I cut her sandwich into a heart for her, before getting her the milk. I put everything away and grabbed the sandwich and her sippy cup, heading back into the living room.

Kendall was sitting on the couch with her in his lap.

I handed him the plate and sippy cup to hold for her.

"What do we say Katie?" he asked.

"Tank you."

I smiled at her. "You're very welcome sweetie."

Kendall handed her the sandwich and she took a bite.

She chewed and then pointed to her sippy cup.

Kendall laughed and handed it to her. "Sticky?"

She nodded.

"Does she need a napkin?" I asked, eager to do anything for that little girl...which was totally unlike me.

"Nah, I think she's okay for now," Kendall smiled.

Logan came back in with his equipment. "Whatcha got there cutie?"

"Peanut jewwy," she informed him, taking another bite.

"Isn't she adorable?" I said to Logan.

"Extremely," he replied, smiling.

"And James' paternal side is apparently coming out," Kendall cracked. "He made her the sandwich and got her the milk."

"Hang on a sec." Logan went over to the window, and then checked his phone. "Okay, pigs aren't flying, and there are no alerts for hell freezing over, so..."

Katie giggled. "Piggies no fwy."

"She's smart too," I commented, before glaring at Logan.

"Very," Kendall said, kissing her head.

"Bite?" she asked, offering him some of her sandwich.

"Awww...I couldn't..."

"Kenny no want bite?"

"I can't eat peanut butter," he said with a sad face. "I get sick from it."

"Why?" she asked curiously.

He looked at Logan for help.

"Don't look at me like that! How am I supposed to explain to a 2 year old about allergies?"

I kneeled down in front of her. "Kenny doesn't like peanut butter because it hurts his tummy," I explained simply to Katie, hoping that she might understand a tiny bit of what I was saying.

She looked up at him. "Bewwy rub no hewp?"

"Nope," he said sadly.

"Oh. Poow Kenny," she said, leaning into him.

He hugged her to him and I smiled.

"She's so sweet," I said.

"Isn't she?"

"Katie, can I sit down next to you?" I asked her sweetly, still kneeling on the ground in front of her.

She nodded her head, drinking from her sippy cup again.

I crawled onto the couch next to her, not wanting to get too close and freak her out.

She stopped drinking and offered it to Kendall. "Miwk?"

"I can drink that," he said with a smile, and took a small sip from the cup.

Normally, if I had seen Kendall drinking from a sippy cup, I would have cracked up laughing and pulled out my phone to get a video of it that would later go on YouTube, but because it was Katie...

She smiled up at him.

He acted like he was drinking a lot of it and she squealed.

"Kenny! No mowe!"

I laughed. "Don't tease her, Kendall."

He playfully pouted at Katie. "But it's so good!"

She pouted back.

Kendall laughed and gave her back the cup, hugging her again.

She started drinking again.

"Okay," Logan said, walking over with a breathing machine. "Let's check you out."

Katie took one look at the machine and dropped her sippy cup, gripping Kendall tightly.

Kendall held her back. "Logan, why is that scaring her?"

"It's just because she doesn't know what it is or what it does."

She whimpered.

"It's okay," Logan assured her. "It's just to see how you're breathing. Watch," he said, testing it on himself.

She leaned forward, looking fascinated, as Logan showed her how the machine worked.

"See? It's not gonna hurt you," he smiled.

She nodded and smiled back at him cutely.

He put the mask on her face, chuckling and told her to take a few deep breaths.

She did as he asked and looked up at him.

He watched the machine, monitoring her breathing.

"Is she okay?" Kendall asked.

Logan nodded. "It looks like it. She probably just hasn't completely gotten the smoke out of her lungs yet, but she'll be fine before long."

Kendall sighed in relief as Logan took the mask off of her.

"So everything's okay? She's healthy?"

"Breathing wise? Yeah. When's the last time she had a check-up?"

"I don't- I don't know. I think a couple of months ago."

"Do you want me to give her one?"

"Yes please."

"Alright, I'll go get my stuff," he said.

"Thank you," Kendall said gratefully as Katie snuggled up to him.

"No problem." and with that he headed towards his room.

Katie turned her head to me. "You have pwetty heh," she said sweetly, reaching up to touch my bangs.

"Quick! Alert the press! James is letting someone touch his hair!" Carlos shouted.

"And pwetty eyes," she said.

I smiled and tapped her nose lightly. "So do you."

She giggled and blushed.

"Wow, is my baby sister old enough to blush?" Kendall asked, looking surprised.

"What's bwush?" she asked him.

"When your face turns red and it feels hot," Kendall explained. "James told you you're pretty, and you blushed."

"Oh," she said, raising a hand to one of her cheeks.

"You're so cute," I cooed, brushing my finger against her other cheek.

She gave me a toothy grin in response.

"Kendall, you're lucky, you know that?" I told him.

"Yeah, I know."

"I can't wait to see her grow up," I said, smiling. "I bet she'll be the cutest thing ever."

"She's already to cutest thing ever," Carlos said as Logan came back into the room.

"Yeah, but I mean when she's older," I explained.

Katie let out a huge yawn that seemed almost impossible for a girl that small to be able to produce.

"Tired?" Kendall asked.

She nodded, snuggling into him.

He pulled her into his lap. "You can go to sleep if you want, sweetie."

"'K," she said, and laid her head against his chest.

Kendall reached for the blankets he had been carrying her in and wrapped her back up.

"Do you want to do the check-up later?" Logan asked.

"Yeah," Kendall said. "I think she just needs to sleep right now."

"Understandable. It's noon anyway, it's around the normal time for someone her age to nap at."

Kendall smiled. "Is there any place we could put her down for an hour or two?"

"Your bed?" Carlos suggested.

"It's so huge! Is it safe for her to be on it? I mean, shouldn't she be in a crib or something?" Kendall asked worriedly.

"Was she sleeping in a crib at your mom…and…dad's?" Logan trailed off.

"I think so. But they were talking about getting her a bed for her 3rd birthday...Oh God...they won't be here for that..."

"I'm sorry," Logan apologized. "I shouldn't have even asked."

"No, no, it's okay," Kendall sniffed. "I- I'm fine. I just...I think I'll lay down with her, I don't want to leave her in an unfamiliar place all alone."

"Okay," Logan nodded.

For some reason, I didn't want to let Katie out of my sight for more than a few minutes. "Ummm...would you mind if I laid down with you two?" I asked.

Kendall looked at me weird. "Ummm...Why?"

"I don't know...I just...I know this is going to sound weird...But I kind of already really care about Katie. I guess she's just bringing out the paternal instincts in me, but I don't want to let her out of my sight for too long."

Logan looked like he was contemplating something.

Kendall nodded. "Yeah, I guess it's alright."

I glanced at Logan. "What? You look like you're thinking even harder than normal."

"Now may not be a good time."

"Okaaaaay..." I stretched and followed Kendall and Katie up the stairs to Kendall's room. Kendall gently laid Katie in the middle of the bed, and then we crawled onto the mattress on either side of her.

"I don't even know what to do," Kendall admitted.

"What do you mean?" I asked, folding my hands behind my head as I laid on my back.

"I've always just been a big brother. Now in a way, I kind of have to play dad."

"Well, you won't be alone. Logan will make sure she eats right and all that good stuff and always does her homework when the time comes, Carlos will make sure she has plenty of fun, I'll always make her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and you'll be her big brother." I paused. "Oh my God! That little girl's going to grow up in a house full of guys!"

"Yeah. Who wants to play mom?"

"Exactly," I said. "She'll be fine. She may end up being a tomboy, but hey, she'll be a tomboy who can take care of herself. She'll be able to beat up all the boys, and out-eat them, and..."

"Stop," Kendall said. "Don't even talk about boys. And like I said, I may be the big brother, but I kind of have to play mom and dad."

"But we'll be the uncles," I put in. "We won't let anything happen to her either."

"Uncles it too weird. You guys'll be the other brothers."

"Okay," I agreed. "We'll be her brothers."

"Thanks for doing all this."

"No problem. That little girl already means the world to me, she already means the world to all of us."

Kendall nodded. "I'm glad she took to you guys so fast."

"Me too. She's so sweet and cute. She's like a human bear cub, all cute and cuddly."

Kendall laughed. "She's got quite the temper though. I'm warning you now, be careful."

I nodded. "The infamous Knight temper?"

"Above and beyond. That's the only time she has her 'terrible twos'. She could give me a run for my money."

I stared at him. "That's terrifying dude. I will make sure to NEVER piss her off."

"Yeah, that's probably the safest thing to do. Remember last month when my toe was bruised and my hockey stick was broken?"

"Yeeeeaaahhhh..."

"That was her doing. She got mad because I forgot that I was supposed to take her out that day and she stomped on my toe. Then she took my hockey stick to my foot and then broke it."

I winced. "Wow...that sounds...violent."

"Yeah, it wasn't fun."

"Wow..."

Katie whimpered in her sleep.

Kendall pulled her close. "Maybe she's having a nightmare," he whispered to me.

She started crying and I could see tears leaking out of her eyes.

Kendall pulled her closer. "Shhh...it's okay sweetie, I'm here, I've got you."

"Hot," she cried.

Kendall's face went white. "The fire. Oh God...the fire..."

I could see in the way his eyes grew wild that he was about to have a panic attack. I took Katie from him, cuddling her to me while trying to comfort Kendall at the same time. "Shh, it's okay." I rubbed Katie's back and put a hand on Kendall's shoulder. "It's okay."

Katie whimpered into my chest as Kendall shook violently.

"Logan!" I called, knowing he would hear me.

"Yeah? I'm coming!"

"Help!"

He came dashing into the room and took one look at the situation. "What happened?"

"Katie's having a nightmare about the fire and Kendall's having a panic attack."

Logan nodded in understanding at once. "I'll take Kendall, you keep Katie."

I nodded and sat up, rocking her.

She continued to whimper and cry against me.

I held her, stroking her hair. "Shhh...it's okay sweetie, you're okay, you're safe. Nothing's going to hurt you, we won't let it." I looked over at Logan to see how he was doing with Kendall.

Logan was hugging Kendall, letting Kendall cry and moan into his shoulder, as he murmured words of comfort to him.

Katie's eyes opened. "Kenny!" she cried.

"Do you want to go over to Kenny?" I whispered to Katie.

She nodded her head furiously and reached for him.

I passed her over to Kendall, who gripped his baby sister tightly.

"Kenny," she whimpered. "Hot."

Kendall whimpered and clutched her harder. "I know baby girl, I know. You're okay now...you're safe. I promise. I love you."

"Wuv you."

I smiled. They were so cute together.

Logan managed to crawl out from under the brother/sister pair and over to me, giving me a long look again.

"What?" I asked.

He just smiled. "It'll be interesting to see her grow up."

"Okkaayyy..."

"James, you know what vampire mates are, right?"

"Yeah, obviously. Why?"

"You know, when you've found your mate, you feel like you'd do anything for them, as if you'd go to the end of the world for them, and it's instantaneous."

"Okay. Why are you telling me this?"

"Age doesn't matter, James, especially when you're a vampire and you stop aging the moment you hit 21."

What was he going on about? I looked back at Kendall and Katie. My eyes widened and I looked back to Logan. "No, you can't be- Seriously?"

Logan nodded. "Seriously. Did you know that Camille is actually 20 years older than me? It's more than possible. It happens. And I think it happened today."

Kendall looked at us. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing," Logan said quickly. "Just how lucky Katie is to have you."

Kendall nodded.

Jo walked in the room, looking between me and Kendall in bed together and him holding Katie. "Uhh...is there something I should know?"

Kendall and I simultaneously leapt out of bed. "NO!" we shouted together.

"It's not what it looks like!" Kendall cried. "See this- this little girl...She's my baby sister...My parents just died. She was napping and James and I were just comforting her. We're not- we're not- TOGETHER- NO!"

"That's your little sister? Aww, she's so cute," she cooed, walking towards them.

I smiled. "Isn't she?"

Katie peeked out from Kendall's shoulder shyly.

"Katie, this is Jo. Can you say hi to her?" Kendall whispered.

She hid her face in Kendall's shoulder again.

Jo chuckled. "Aww. I was wondering when I was going to meet- Wait, did you say your parents died?"

Kendall nodded, his face blank. "In a fire this morning. She survived, I think she crawled out of the house before it went up in flames."

Jo gasped, bringing a hand to her mouth. "Oh my- And she- I'm so sorry."

"Thank you," Kendall said, sadness edging his voice.

"Kenny," Katie said quietly.

"Hmmm?" Kendall turned his attention back to his sister.

"Wet."

Kendall and I exchanged confused glances, but Logan and Jo both clapped their hands to their mouths, Jo trying not to laugh.

"How old is she?"

"She's two," Kendall said.

"Kenny," she whined, "wet."

Jo smirked. "I think someone needs a diaper change."

Kendall groaned. "I completely forgot."

"Do you want some help with her?" I asked Kendall. "Jo and I will be more than happy to help you."

"We don't have any diapers," Logan reminded us.

"We can use an old towel for now," Jo said.

"Okay. Let's get her changed and then we can go to the store."

"Do you guys know how to put a diaper on the old-fashioned way?" Jo asked us.

We all shook our heads.

"Guess I'll be showing you with the towel. I'm going to need safety pins too."

Logan went to get a towel and safety pins and returned a couple minutes later, handing everything to Jo.

"Hi beautiful," Jo cooed to Katie. "I'm going to get you all clean and dry, okay?"

Katie looked at Jo with a shy smile and Kendall laid her on the bed.

Jo continued to talk to Katie softly and reassuringly as she pulled her pajama bottoms down and unfastened the diaper.

"Umm...what are you going to wipe her with?" Kendall asked.

Jo turned to face Logan. "You know what you forgot, don't you?"

"Sorry!" he cried, rushing to go get something. He came back a minute later with wet wipes.

"Thanks," Jo said, taking the wipes from him and cleaning Katie off.

Katie fidgeted a little. "Cowd."

Jo made a sad face. "Awww, I'm sorry sweetie. You'll be all warm in a minute."

Katie nodded and looked at Kendall, giving him a toothy smile.

Jo finished wiping her off, and then, using the towel and safety pins, fashioned a make-shift diaper and fastened it around Katie.

"Tank you," Katie said, smiling shyly.

Jo beamed at her. "You're very welcome. Can I have a hug?"

Katie looked unsure for a second before hugging her.

"Awww, thank you!" Jo chirped once Katie had finished hugging her. "You're such a little cutie!"

Katie smiled shyly again before reaching for Kendall.

Kendall grabbed her and swung her up so that he was holding her.

She giggled and wrapped her arms around him.

I smiled again. Kendall and Katie really were cute together. But something was still weighing at the back of my mind...If what Logan had said was true...Was it possible that one day, in about 15 or 16 years probably, I would fall in love with that little girl? That one today we would be mates? That one day...?

"Don't hurt yourself thinking too hard," Kendall laughed.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, very funny."

Kendall shrugged. "I thought it was. What are you thinking about anyway?"

"Nothing," I said. "Nothing important anyway."

Kendall eyed me for a second. "Okkaayy. Anyway, who wants to watch Katie while I run to the store?"

"I will!" I immediately volunteered.

Katie grinned and started wiggling out of Kendall's arms.

"Do you want to stay with me?" I asked her.

She nodded.

I held out my arms, and Kendall handed her to me.

She wrapped her arms around me and snuggled into my shoulder.

I cuddled her to me.

Logan smirked knowingly.

"She needs new clothes too, doesn't she?" Jo asked.

Kendall smacked his forehead. "Yes she does. Great. I have no idea where to look for toddler clothes."

Katie lifted her head and grinned. "Cwothes!"

I laughed. "Hey, check it out, I think I'm rubbing off on her."

Kendall laughed and shook his head. "No, she loves shopping and clothes. I don't know if it will last, but she definitely does right now."

"We should totally take her shopping sometime!" I cried, getting excited.

Katie clapped and giggled. "Cwothes!"

I squeezed her in a small hug and kissed the top of her head. "I have a feeling you and I are going to get along really well, Katie-Bear."

She looked up at me. "Who that?"

I laughed. "That's my new nickname for you. Like sweetie or baby girl. You're Katie-Bear to me now."

"Kay Jamie."

I smiled. "Hey, you've already got a nickname for me! You're so smart!"

"I told you," Kendall smiled.

Logan laughed. "Haha Jamie."

"Why waugh Wogie?" Katie asked cutely.

I started laughing. "Yeah Logie, why're you laughing?"

He glared at me. "Shut up."

Katie gasped. "Kenny! Wogie bad!"

I smirked. "Yeah Logie, watch your language."

He rolled his eyes.

"I beat you!" Katie threatened.

"She's got a temper," Kendall informed Logan. "So be careful."

"Sure, now you tell me."

"Well, I didn't think you were going to go and piss her off so soon."

Katie gasped again. "Kenny! Bad!"

Kendall winced. "I'm sorry Katie-Kat."

"Kay," she said before turning to Logan. "Apowo- Apowo- Say sowwy to Jamie."

I turned and smiled expectantly at Logan, who glared at me.

"Sorry Jamie," he said, more sarcastic than anything else.

"Kay," she nodded and snuggled back into me.

Jo laughed. "She's completely adorable."

I hugged Katie. "Yes she is."

"We should head to the store," Kendall said to Jo.

She nodded. "Okay, let's go."

"Be good," he said, kissing Katie's head.

"Awways," she smiled.

Kendall and Jo left, leaving Katie alone with me and Logan.

I glared at him. "You really think Katie and I are- are- are- !"

"Yeah, I really do."

"How can you even tell?"

"Have you not noticed you're behavior since Kendall brought her here? You've been jumping the second something needs to be done for her. You made her a sandwich and got her milk!"

I sniffed huffily. "Maybe I just like her."

Logan smirked. "I know you do."

I gasped. "Logan! That is disgusting! She's 2 years old!"

Katie smacked the back of my head.

Logan immediately cracked up as I looked at Katie.

"What was that for?" I whined.

"No mowe yewwing."

"Okay," I agreed. "I'm sorry. I'll be good, I promise."

She nodded. "What tawk about?"

"Oh, nothing important, Logan's just being silly," I told her, bouncing her up and down in my arms.

She giggled for a second and then made a face. "No feew good."

"Oh? How come? Do you have a tummy ache?" I asked her sadly.

She nodded.

"Will a tummy rub help?"

"No."

Logan looked at her. "It could be from the smoke she inhaled."

"Ohhh, poor Katie-Bear," I cooed, hugging her to me.

Carlos walked in a moment later. "Aww what's wrong?"

"Katie-Bear has a tummy ache," I simpered.

"Aww, you poor thing," he said walking over.

Katie buried her face in my shoulder, whimpering pathetically.

"Can we do anything?" Carlos asked Logan.

"I don't know," Logan said sadly. "I think she still has the smoke in her system, it might take a few days for it to get out."

"Want awe," Katie whimpered.

Logan nodded. "I'll go get her some ginger ale, maybe it'll help her tummy."

"I'm glad you got that," Carlos told him. "I had no idea what she meant."

I rocked Katie gently. "It's Katie-talk, it's pretty easy to understand for the most part."

"If you say so."

I grinned as Katie buried her face in my shoulder.

"What are you grinning about?"

"She's just cute and warm and cuddly and seems to have taken a liking to me."

Logan walked back in, carrying her sippy cup. "Here ya go, Kat."

"Awe?" she asked.

"Yep. It'll make your tummy feel all better."

"Tank you," she said, taking the sippy cup. She started drinking the ginger ale and glanced at Carlos.

He smiled at her and made a funny face.

She giggled and started choking.

I gently patted her on the back until she was able to swallow the ginger ale.

She coughed on more time and looked up at me, her eyes watery. "Tank you."

I smiled. "You're welcome."

"Sorry, Kit-Kat," Carlos told her.

"It's kay, Carwos."

"We're all coming up with nicknames for her," I commented.

Logan and Carlos nodded.

"Well, she is going to be around for quite some time," Logan pointed out.

"Another 16 years at least," I said happily.

Carlos looked at me. "Is there something I don't know about?"

Logan nodded as Katie laid her head against my shoulder and closed her eyes. "There is, actually, but you can't tell Kendall because he'll freak out."

"Okay?"

"I think Katie is James' mate. Or, she will be in another 15 years or whatever."

Carlos' eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously. He's willing to wait on her hand and foot. He already loves her, and she loves him."

"Don't you think it would be better to tell Kendall?"

"Why? He'll just kill James!"

"Think about it, if we tell him now, he has like 16 years to get used to the idea."

"That's true," I admitted. "And it'll give me 16 years to get used to the idea. But what if you're wrong, Logan?"

"I'm a genius. I'm not wrong."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."

Katie sighed. "I bowed."

"Well, what would you like to do, Katie-Bear?" I asked her chipperly.

"Cowow."

I looked over at Logan and Carlos. "Do we have any coloring books and crayons?"

Carlos blushed. "I do."

We turned to look at him.

"Do I even want to know?" Logan asked.

"It's relaxing and fun."

I smirked at him and covered Katie's ears. "Dude, we've got to get you a girlfriend."

"I be giwwfwiend," Katie chirped.

Carlos cackled. "Nope, you're going to be James' in a few years- ow!" he yelped as Logan wracked him around the head.

Katie's eyes filled with tears. "No fwiend?"

"Dude, she doesn't understand what a girlfriend is," I reminded Carlos. "She just wants to be your friend."

"Ohhh...okay. Of course you can be my friend," Carlos cooed to Katie. "You and me and James and Logan will be best friends forever!"

She smiled at him. "Pwomise?"

"I pwomise," he promised.

"We're all going to be talking like that at some point," Logan said.

"I know," I said cheerfully, cuddling Katie to me again. "It's so cute!"

Logan shook his head.

Camille walked in a few seconds later and looked at me. "You have a kid? You have got to stop sleeping around!"

I glared at her. "This is Kendall's baby sister! Their parents died in a fire this morning," I added more mournfully. "And according to Logan, your dear boyfriend/mate, Katie and I are going to be mates when she's older."

"Oh. Oh my gosh! That's horrible!"

"I know," I said sadly. "Somehow this precious little girl survived, and..." I stopped to listen to myself. Wow. I was pathetic.

Logan and Carlos grinned.

"They don't know how?" Camille asked.

"They think she crawled out of the house before the house went up in flames completely...at least, that's Kendall's theory."

"Well, did you ask her?"

"You want us to ask a 2 year old how she survived a fire?" Logan asked blankly.

"Ask her how she got out of the house."

Well, it was worth a try.

"Katie-Bear," I said softly, "how did you get out of the house when it was so hot in there?"

She looked up at me. "Secwet."

I looked back at her curiously. "Why is it a secret?"

She shook her head. "No. Kenny secwet."

"It's Kenny's secret?"

"No."

"Kenny can't know the secret?" I tried.

"Kenny know."

"He does?" I frowned.

She nodded. "Kenny made."

Carlos frowned too. "What does she mean?"

"I have no idea on this one," Logan said.

Luckily, Kendall and Jo walked into the room.

"Kendall, could you decipher Katie-talk for us?" I asked him. "We were asking her about how she got out of the house, and she says that it's a secret that you know, and then she said 'Kenny made'. What does that mean?"

Kendall's eyes lit up with realization. "Oh my...I completely forgot. We made this passage way a few months ago. It goes from her room to the front yard. Katie, is that how you got out?"

She nodded. "Secwet."

I smiled. "That explains it."

"I can't believe she remembered that," Kendall breathed out.

"She's smart," I told him with a grin.

"I know," he grinned back, walking over and kissing her head. "I'm so proud of you!"

"Tank you!" she chirped with a toothy smile.

Kendall laughed. "You're so cute! I love you so much!"

"Wuv you!"

Jo smiled. "She still smells like smoke. We should give her a bath."

Katie squealed happily. "Bath!"

I laughed. "I take it she likes baths?"

"Loves them," Kendall said. "The only downside is, is that she loves to splash."

I grinned. "Whoever gives her a bath should put on a swimsuit then."

"Who wants to do it?" Kendall asked.

"I'll do it," I volunteered, and then paused. "But...before I do anything with her, there's something you should know."

Kendall looked at me skeptically. "You're not some sick pedophile, are you?"

"No...although I will be if Logan's right," I grumbled.

"I told you," Logan said smoothly, "age doesn't matter when you're a vampire and you stop aging at 21."

"It does when the girl who's going to be my mate is 2 years old!" I wailed.

"What?" Kendall asked.

I sighed. "Logan thinks Katie and I are destined to be mates in about 16 years."

"You and- My baby sister and-" He took one last look at us and fainted.

"He took it better than I thought he would," Logan said.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I'm still alive."

Katie wiggled out of my arms and walked over to him. "Kenny," she said, lightly smacking his face.

I glanced at the others. "I guess he faints a lot when we're not around to keep him conscious."

Katie shook her head. "Seen Kenny do."

"Who does he know who's fainted?" I mumbled, just as Kendall stirred.

"Kenny kay?"

"Oof...yeah...I think so..." he said hoarsely.

She tilted her head to the side and offered him her sippy cup. "Awe?"

"Thank you Katie-Kat," he said, and took a sip from her cup.

"Wewcome."

Kendall turned to look at me. "So you think- or Logan thinks- that you and Katie are- ?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"She's 2 years old," he warned me.

"I know that!"

"I know that with vampire mates, there's nothing you can do, they'll be together no matter what...But just promise me you won't do anything until she turns 18."

"I promise."

Kendall nodded and picked himself off of the floor. "Good. Then you can give her a bath if you want...ummm...you don't have, like, feelings for her yet, do you?"

"Gross! No!"

"Okay, okay. Just checking."

"Bath time?" Katie asked.

"Yep!" Kendall crowed. "Do you want James to give you a bath?"

She nodded.

"Wanna see what we got for you?" Jo asked her.

"Yeah!"

Jo pulled out a shopping bag.

Katie looked up at her excitedly.

Jo pulled out an outfit that looked like it would fit Katie perfectly, and then pulled out watermelon scented shampoo and body wash, and to top the whole thing off...

"A rubber ducky!" Carlos cried happily.

Katie's eyes lit up. "Tank you!" she cried, throwing her arms around Jo and Kendall's legs.

Kendall and Jo laughed.

"You're very welcome sweetheart," Jo cooed to her.

She turned to me excitedly. "Wet's go!"

I held out my hand. "Okay then! Come on Katie-Bear."

Katie took my hand and Jo passed me the stuff.

I led Katie into Kendall's bathroom, and immediately turned on the taps for a nice warm bath.

Carlos came in right behind us. "Rubbery ducky time!"

"Are you helping?" I asked him.

"If you need me to."

"You can stay in here incase I need help," I suggested.

He nodded. "You want me to take her shirt and diaper off?"

"Sure," I said hesitantly.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm just trying to get Logan's...theory...through my mind. It's so hard to believe that one day this little girl and I...well, you know," I finished awkwardly.

"Gotcha," he said, lifting her shirt over her head.

Katie squealed as the cool air hit her.

I immediately turned the bathroom heat on. I knew it would steam up the mirrors, but at that point, I was more concerned about Katie.

"You're going to get a little colder," Carlos warned her as he took off her make-shift diaper.

"Cowd."

"I'm sorry Katie-Bear," I said to her. "You'll be nice and warm in a minute."

She toddled over and looked up at me. "Bath?"

"Mmm hmm. And you like baths, don't you?"

"Yeah!"

I checked the water to make sure it wasn't too hot, or too cold, and turned the tap off. "Okay Katie-Bear, time to get in the water."

She lifted her arms so I could pick her up.

I picked her up and gently set her down slowly in the tub.

"Wawm," she said happily. "Feew good."

"Yay!" I cheered. "Carlos, can you pass me the rubber ducky?"

He passed it to me and I handed it to Katie.

"Ducky!" She immediately began running it through the water, making duck sounds. "Quack. Quack."

Carlos laughed. "Seriously, could she get any cuter?"

I laughed too, and nearly yelped when a sudden flash of something went through my brain, like an image on TV: A beautiful, petite brunette girl smiling up at me from the driver's side of the car, as she steered and I directed her.

Katie looked at her rubber ducky curiously before grinning and putting it back in the water. "Carwos, Ducky tawk to you."

Carlos grinned. "Really?" he cooed. "What did Ducky say to me?" He glanced at me. "Hey, man, are you okay? You look a little out of it."

I shook my head. "I think I just got a glimpse of future Katie."

"Come hewe," she told him.

Carlos crawled over to her. "Really? What was happening?"

"I think she was about 15, and I was teaching her how to drive."

"Wow. That's- That's I don't even know."

"Cwosew."

"Tell me about it," I groaned. "I mean, what's going to happen if I get a vision of something when she's even older?"

Carlos got even closer to Katie.

I had an idea of what she was about to do, and I grinned.

She lifted the duck and squeezed it, causing water to squirt out of it's mouth and spray Carlos in the face as she giggled hysterically.

I smirked. "Yep, she's definitely Kendall's little sister."

Carlos spit water out of his mouth. "Tell me about it."

I snickered. "Don't tell me you didn't see that coming."

"I honestly didn't. I wonder if they realized they bought her one that squirts water."

"Well, if not, they'll realize it the first time they give her a bath." The next thing I knew, Katie was giggling again and I was wet. I had to laugh. "Okay, I definitely didn't see that one coming."

"We should probably wash her now before this gets out of hand," Carlos chuckled.

I nodded, still chortling. "Sounds good." I grabbed a wash cloth, soaked it in the water, and then poured some body wash over it and began wiping Katie down.

"Smeww good."

"And you'll smell good too," I told her as I moved the cloth over her skin.

"Smeww pwetty?"

"Yep."

"I wike mewon."

"So do I," I said, "and so does Carlos, and Kenny, and Logie, and Jo and Cami."

She smiled and I rinsed her off.

"Time to wash your hair!" I said chipperly.

"Yay! Heh smeww pwetty."

"Yep, it sure will!" I paused. "Carlos, could you go get me a cup to rinse her hair with?"

Carlos nodded and went to go get one. He came back a couple minutes later. "Here ya go."

I dipped the cup in the water and shielded her eyes with my hand, before dumping the water over her head to get her hair nice and wet. I squeezed some shampoo into my hand and started washing her hair. I looked down at her and she had her eyes closed. I finished washing her hair and rinsed it again, trying to get all the shampoo out.

She opened her eyes once I was done.

I pulled the plug to let the water drain, pulling her out of the tub and started looking for a towel. "Where does Kendall keep his?"

"I don't know," Carlos answered, helping me.

I found them and grabbed one, turning around to Katie, but she was gone.

"Naked baby!" Kendall laughed from his room.

"She escaped!" Carlos exclaimed.

"And she's soaking!" I cried.

We ran into Kendall's room and looked at Katie.

She was standing in the middle of the room, grinning.

"You know," Logan commented. "One day, we're going to tease her mercilessly about this, and she's going to be so embarrassed."

I ignored him. "Katie-Bear, come on, let's get you all dried off."

Her grin widened and she took a step back.

"Don't you want to get dried off?" I asked her. "You'll be nice and warm."

"She almost always does this," Kendall laughed. "It's like a game to her."

"To see if we can catch her?"

He nodded as Camille and Jo laughed.

"Will she be okay if we catch her?"

"Go ahead and try," he laughed.

Carlos and I glanced at each other. Uh oh.

"I'm not sure I want to," Carlos piped up.

"Yeah, that makes two of us," I added.

Logan stepped forward to grab her and she dodged him.

"She's fast, I'll give her that," I said.

Kendall nodded. "Which means you have to be faster."

I got down on my hands and knees and crawled towards her. Don't ask me what I was doing, because I don't know. I already knew she was going to jump away.

She looked at me and stepped back.

I tried for a dog whimper. "Woof, woof."

"Jamie no puppy."

I whined again. "Woof, woof," I barked sadly, giving her my best puppy-dog eyes look.

"She's not buying it," Kendall said.

I went for lovable human. "Pwease?" I whined, keeping the big eyed look. "Pwease can we dry you off?"

She shook her head.

"Awwww...then I guess we can't go shopping," I said sadly.

She looked at me like she might give in.

I sighed. "And I was going to buy you new outfits and everything."

She paused before lifting a tiny foot and stepping forward.

"Are you going to let me dry you off so we can go shopping?"

She nodded and ran over to me.

I grabbed her and dried her off.

"Yeah!" Carlos cheered. "We did it!"

I wrapped Katie in the towel and picked her up. "I'm going to get you dressed now, okay Katie-Bear?" I said to her.

"Cwothes?"

"Yep," I said cheerfully. "And then I'll take you shopping for even more clothes."

"Do you know how to put on the diaper?" Jo asked.

"Yeah, I think so," I said. "I used to do it for my younger brother all the time."

Jo nodded. "Alright."

I smiled back. "Can I have Katie's clothes?"

"Oh, sorry," Jo apologized, handing them to me.

"Thanks," I said, and began to dress Katie.

Jo smirked at me. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

I paused. "Crap. Where's the diaper?"

Kendall laughed and pointed to his bed.

I grabbed it, and managed to get it on Katie, and finished getting her dressed.

"Tank you," she smiled.

I smiled back and gave her a bear hug. "You're very welcome."

She turned around to Kendall. "Bye bye?"

He waved at her. "Bye bye."

"No," she whined. "Kenny bye bye."

"Does she want you to come with us?" I asked Kendall.

"I think so."

"Do you want to come with us?"

Kendall nodded. "It's probably better if I do. She gets antsy sometimes."

"Okay. Come on, let's go. Kendall, does your car have a seat for her?"

"Yeah. Luckily I always had one in there."

"I'll say."

"Go bye bye?"

Kendall smiled. "Yep. You, me, and James."

"Jo come?" she asked shyly.

Jo smiled widely. "If you want me to, sweetie."

Katie nodded and toddled over to her, taking her hand.

"Well, let's go. I'll drive," Kendall said.

"Kenny dwive fast."

Jo raised her eyebrows at him. "How fast, Kendall?"

"Not that fast!" he cried. "Of course she thinks it's fast, she's 2."

"Ah."

"Wet's go!" Katie cheered.

We headed out to Kendall's car.

He buckled her in.

"Do you want shotgun?" I asked Jo.

"No!" Katie cried. "Jo mine!"

I rolled my eyes. "She's 2 years old and she's already rejecting me."

Jo laughed. "No she's not. I think she just wants to be friends with me."

"Whatever. I'm in charge of the radio!"

We climbed into the car and Kendall turned to look at Katie.

"Jo is mine."

"No! She mine!" Katie yelled back.

"Hey Jo, congratulations, you've got both Knights fighting over you," I called back to her.

"Stop being jealous. I think you had enough time, considering you were in bed with both of them."

"See, that just makes it sound like Kendall uses me for..." I paused. "S. E. X."

Katie looked at me confused. "What speww?"

Jo snickered. "One of James' favorite activities."

"Kendall, can I throw something at your girlfriend?"

"Absolutely not!"

"No huwt Jo! Bad Jamie!"

I face-palmed.

"Jamie!" Katie cried. "No huwt!"

"I'm not going to hurt Jo," I promised Katie.

"She meant you hitting yourself," Kendall told me.

"Awwww..." I cooed. "That's so sweet! I'm not hurt, I promise Katie-Bear."

Kendall laughed. "You ready, Katie-Kat?"

"Wet's go!"

Kendall started the car up, put the gear into reverse, and backed out of the driveway, before putting the gears back into drive, and hitting the pedal.

Katie giggled. "Kenny dwive fast!"

Jo glared from behind Kendall's seat.

"He's only going about 25," I told her.

Katie looked at Jo. "Kay?"

Jo smiled back at her. "Okay."

Katie gave her a grin and turned to look out her window.

A few minutes later, we pulled up in front of the mall.

Time to go shopping for Katie.


	2. Shopping and Tantrums

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Science-Fantasy93: And we're back, with a whole new chapter!
> 
> Jatieluv: Oh yeah! Even more Katie cuteness!
> 
> Science-Fantasy93: She's so adorable!
> 
> Jatieluv: Aboslutely! But this chapter isn't all cuteness...
> 
> Science-Fantasy93: No, it's not...
> 
> Jatieluv: Yeah...We're gonna stop talking now and just let you see for yourself.

Kendall's POV

We took Katie into Sweethearts R Us, a store that Jo took her niece to all the time and absolutely raved about.

"Cawt?"

I laughed. "Yep, we'll be needing a cart, especially since we're shopping with Jo and James."

"Purpwe."

"You want a purple cart?" I asked her.

She nodded.

Sure enough, there were purple carts. "You've been in here before, haven't you?"

"Mommy."

Immediately I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach with a bowling ball for a punching bag. Mom...Oh God...

"Kenny kay?"

"Y-yeah...I'm fine..."

Jo put her hand on my shoulder. "Babe?"

I cleared my throat. "I'm fine."

Jo and James exchanged glances, like they didn't believe me, but they dropped the subject.

I looked down at Katie and she beamed up at me.

"You're so cute," I cooed.

She giggled and hid behind her hair.

"Awwww," James gushed. "She's so adorable!"

Katie looked back up at me, a hint of a blush on her cheeks. "Cawt?"

"We'll go get one," I told her. "Do you want to ride in the cart, or do you want one of us to carry you?"

"In cawt."

"Who do you want to push you?"

"Kenny!"

James laughed. "She loves you so much."

Katie grinned. "Wuv Kenny."

I looked at James oddly. "In a few years, it'll be you who she'll want to spend all her time with."

"I'm sure that's not true," Jo said. "Not that she won't want to spend time with you, James. But she loves you, babe. She's not going to stop."

"I never said she wouldn't," I replied. "I just meant that one day she won't want me hanging around 24/7."

"Yeah, that's true."

James swung an arm around my shoulders. "But until then, she loves you waaaay more than she loves me. So you don't have anything to worry about for at least another 10 years- and that's if you're unlucky."

Katie tapped her foot impatiently. "Weady?"

"Ready," I said, and lifted her up into the cart.

"Cwothes!"

James laughed. "Yep Katie-Bear, are you ready to get some new clothes?"

She nodded eagerly.

I steered the cart over to where the pants were so that we could begin looking.

"No," Katie said.

We all stopped in our tracks.

"No?" I asked. "Why not?"

"No pants."

"Sweetie, it's cold outside," Jo explained.

"Dwesses."

"We can always get her some thick tights and leggings," Jo suggested.

"We can, but I want her to have actual pants too," I told them.

James knelt down so that he was eye-level with Katie. "How about we get you some pants, and then we buy you a whole bunch of dresses?"

"Kay."

I smiled. I had to give James credit. He could reason with her.

Katie pointed to a pair of jeans. "Pwetty."

"They would look even prettier on you," James cooed, still kneeling down. "Do you want us to get them for you?"

She nodded and blushed again.

I rolled my eyes. "And there, ladies and gentlemen, is the first manifestation of her future crush on James."

Jo laughed. "It's cute."

"It won't be when she's 13 and blushing every time he smiles at her," I grumbled.

James smirked. "Thinking pretty far ahead, are we Kendall?"

"So what was going on in the bathroom?" Jo asked, changing the subject and looking at more pants.

James looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"We heard Katie giggling like crazy," I explained.

He grinned. "Oh thank goodness, I thought you heard me say- never mind. Anyway, she squirted us both with the rubber ducky that you two bought her."

"Thought we heard you say-"

"How did she do that?" Jo asked, cutting me off.

"Do what?"

"How did she squirt you with it?"

James gave her a weird look. "She squeezed it. How else do you squirt rubber duckies?"

"Obviously. But that could only happen if it had a hole in it's...mouth," I trailed off.

"I told you it was the wrong one!" Jo yelled.

James smirked at us. "Have fun giving her baths you two."

"But...but...but you're so good at it."

His grin widened. "Beginner's luck. Anyway, shouldn't the big brother, and not the future mate, be giving her baths?"

"Why?" Jo grinned. "You'll be HAVING baths with her in the future."

I yelped. "She's 2 years old! Let's not talk about- about- THAT'S JUST GROSS!"

"Kenny," Katie tugged on my shirt. "Pants."

"Oh, sorry Katie-Kat. Do you want these jeans?"

"Pwease?"

I took the jeans and tossed them into the cart.

James cleared his throat. "Something really weird happened in the bathroom."

I turned to him. "What did you do?" I hissed.

He yelped. "I didn't do anything! It's just...I got this vision of me teaching Katie how to drive. I guess she would be about 15 there. I was just wondering if you or Jo ever got visions of each other like that before you mated?"

I looked surprised. "Oh. Umm...yeah. I still do sometimes."

"Aww!" Jo squealed. "That's so cute!"

James looked at me. "So it never goes away? Ummm...this is kind of an awkward question...and I swear it hasn't happened to me yet, but...about the visions..."

"Nope. What about them?"

He blushed slightly. "Did you ever get any visions of you two...you know...?"

I coughed awkwardly. "Umm...yeah, sometimes."

Jo and James both turned to me, Jo looking slightly embarrassed, James looking alarmed.

"I'm sorry I answered?"

James laughed a little uncomfortably. "No, no, I asked you that...I was just kind of hoping you would say no, because it's going to be really weird if I'm having these weird visions of us having sex 16 years from now, when she's only 2 right now."

"Well, at least she won't be 2 in your visions," Jo piped up.

"Thank goodness," he sighed. "She was beautiful as a 15 year old. I have a feeling her teen years are going to be really difficult."

"Especially when she hits 16," she told him. "She'll be going through quite a transformation."

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

Jo cracked a smile. "Let's just say, that's when her puberty will reach it's prime."

James still looked confused, and then realization seemed to hit him. "You mean as a vampire?"

Jo nodded. "Her appearance will change. Her hair and skin will be softer, her fangs will either grow or stay small and her," she gestured to her chest, "may get bigger."

James gurggled.

She smiled sympathetically. "Sorry. All females do it. It's part of how they draw in their mates."

"Crap. I'm screwed. How old can she be before she mates?" He glanced at me. "Sorry Kendall."

"Most mate when they're 16."

"Not in my house she's not!" I roared.

"You can't stop it," she warned me. "You know that."

"But does she have to mate when she's 16?" I whined.

"She doesn't have to, but that's her decision."

"So I only have to wait 14 years before we can be together? I mean, not that I want to be with her as she is now, but I saw what she looks like at 15..."

"You made a promise," I reminded him.

"Shit. I didn't know she could mate at 16."

Katie gasped. "Jamie! Bad!"

James clapped his hand to his mouth. "Wow, she just made me feel bad for cussing...And that didn't come out right, what I said about not knowing she could mate when she's 16."

Jo laughed. "She's so smart."

"I know," he simpered. "It's so adorable. She's going to be the smartest one in her class."

"I need dwesses," Katie whined.

James nodded. "Okay, we'll go get you some."

"Yay!" she clapped.

We headed over to the dress section so that Katie could pick some out.

"Kenny! Kenny! Wook!" she cried, pointing to a purple dress.

"Do you want that dress?" I asked her.

"Pwease?"

"Of course!" I grabbed the dress in her size and put it in the cart too.

"Tank you!"

"She's so polite!" Jo squealed.

I grinned. "I know!"

"What about this?" I asked, holding up a pink one with hearts.

"Pwetty Kenny!"

"That'll look so gorgeous on her!" James cried. "Kendall, you have to get it for her."

"Pwease," she said with her puppy dog eyes.

"Ohmigosh!" Jo cried. "That's the cutest thing ever!"

James gasped, completely melting. "Kendall, get it for her before I collapse."

I laughed and put the dress in the cart. "You're too cute for your own good," I said, tickling Katie's tummy.

She giggled and tried to push my hand away. "Kenny!"

James and Jo just smiled and shook their heads at each other.

"Even your giggle is cute."

She giggled again and smiled at me.

"And I'm melting again," James moaned. "Katie, can I hug you?"

"Kay," she smiled at him.

He grabbed her in a warm hug, being very gentle and careful.

"Smeww pwetty?"

"Extremely pretty," he cooed.

"Mewon"

"Yes, you do smell like watermelon, Katie-Bear," he replied as he cuddled her.

I laughed. "Should we get stuff for her bedroom and bathroom while we're here?"

James nodded eagerly. "Yeah we should! Can I ride in the cart with her?"

"No! You'll break the damn thing."

Katie smacked my hand. "Bad!"

"Ow!" I yelped. "Okay, okay, I won't cuss!"

Jo laughed. "Can I have her?"

"No, she's my baby sister," I pouted.

"We're mated. So technically, she's my baby sister too."

"Fine, she'll sleep in-between us until we get her a bed of her own," I compromised.

Jo grinned. "But I thought she sleeps in-between you and James?"

I scowled at her. "Careful, or you're going to get James's bed, and he's going to get your place."

James let out a yelp. "How did I get dragged into this? I'm not sleeping with you!"

I shook my head and turned back to Katie and the cart. Wait- Those 5 weren't there before. "Katie!"

She looked up at me innocently. "Pwetty dwesses."

James burst out laughing. "Can I have her?"

"You'll get her between 14-16 years from now, you can wait."

"Yeah, I know," James grumbled.

"Okay," I said, grabbing the dresses Katie put in the cart.

"Kenny!"

"They're not the right size sweetie."

"We'll get you ones in your size," James promised her. "And I still want to ride in the cart," he added with a pout.

"You're too big!"

James grinned. "That's what she said."

I glared at him. "Not in front of K. A. T. I. E."

"Kenny speww my name!"

"D-d-d-arn."

She grinned. "Mommy teach."

And once again, there was that feeling like someone had rammed me in the gut with a train.

"Show mommy pwetty dwesses!"

That did it. "Excuse me," I mumbled, and took off for the men's bathroom, praying no one would be in there.

"Kendall!" James yelled, running after me.

I burst through the bathroom door and collapsed on the bathroom floor, tears streaming down my face, my body shaking from my sobs.

James ran in after me, sat next to me and pulled me into a hug.

I cried into his chest, feeling the pain pour out of me endlessly. How could this be happening? How could my parents- MY PARENTS- be killed in a fire? How was it even possible? How could this happen to them? How could life be so cruel? Why? WHY?

"Shh..it's gonna be okay."

"How is it going to be okay?" I sobbed. "My parents are dead and they're not coming back! I have a 2 year old sister, and I haven't got a clue how I'm supposed to take care of her! This is a complete mess, and I don't know where I'm supposed to go from here! How could this have happened, James? HOW?"

"I don't know how this could've happened. But I know how it's going to be okay. You have all of us. And you have a little girl out there who loves you with all of her tiny little heart."

I sniffed. "That doesn't make what happened to my parents okay."

"I never said it did, but at least you still have Katie. You have some part of them."

"And then there's that thing with you and Katie. I can't figure that one out to save my eternal life."

"You and me both. But it's not going to happen for at least another 14 years, we don't need to worry about it right now."

"I guess." I let out a dry sob.

"It's gonna be okay dude."

I glared at him. "Get Jo in here if your idea of comforting me is by calling me dude."

"Sorry. And I know this isn't comforting, but how are you going to tell Katie?"

"I'm gonna wait until she finds out you're her mate, that way she gets all the bad news at once."

James' jaw dropped. "Well, that was rude. I'll go get Jo."

Half laughing, half crying, I pulled James back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."

He rolled his eyes. "Seriously, how are you going to tell her?"

"I don't know," I said sadly. "I think I should do it alone, so that she can cry without feeling embarrassed."

"Whatever you need to do. But if you need us, just ask."

I paused. "I think I want you and Jo in there, since she seems to like you two best. I think you guys should be there."

James nodded. "Okay."

"I'll do it when we get home," I said. "That way we can have some privacy."

James nodded again. "We should probably get back out there."

"Okay."

We stood up and brushed ourselves off. We headed back out there and I saw Jo holding Katie, who was crying hysterically.

"What happened?" I asked.

"She started crying like this after you left."

I reached for Katie and held her to me. "She must've picked up on my emotions."

"Kenny weave me!" she cried.

I knelt down, pushing her hair out of her face as I kissed her forehead. "I'm so sorry sweetie, I won't leave you again, I promise."

She looked up at me, her face all red from crying. "Pwomise?"

"I promise."

"Kay," she said, wrapping her arms around me.

Jo stepped forward. "Maybe we should wait until tomorrow to find furniture for her bedroom. She can sleep with you and James tonight."

"Want Jo," she said into my shoulder.

"You want Jo to hold you?"

"No. Sweep."

"You want Jo to sleep with you tonight instead of...me or James?"

"Jo and Kenny."

"And I just got rejected again. This is great," James grumbled. "At least there won't be any more James/Kendall jokes."

"Sweep Jamie."

"Huh?"

"I think she wants all three of us," Jo said.

"Awwww, she's just saying that to make me feel better," James said, teasing Katie lightly, peeking one eye at her and then looking away as if he was hurt.

Katie shook her head. "Swumber."

"Does she mean slumber?" Jo asked me.

"I think so."

"As in...what's she talking about?"

"Wogie and Carwos!" she clapped.

"I think she means slumber party," I told them.

James smiled. "In the living room, or in one of our rooms?"

"Whoever's room is the biggest. If we do it in the living room, we're gonna have to move a bunch of stuff."

"My room's pretty big," James volunteered. "No cracks, Jo."

She grinned. "Fine. I'll keep it to myself."

"Oh thank goodness," he sighed in relief.

"For now," she added.

"Oh just spit it out," I told her.

"Nope."

"Jo, it's killing me. You've got a crack about those two, and you might as well spill it so that I won't have nightmares about it."

"I was just going to say, his room is so big cuz he needs room for his activities," she smirked.

He grinned. "Well, that is true."

I shook my head. "You two are horrible."

"But you love us anyway," Jo cooed to me.

"Sometimes."

"You don't love me all the time?" Jo demanded. "We're mates, how is that possible?"

"Of course I love you all the time. I was referring to that one," I said, pointing at James.

"What did I do?" he yelped. "I'm sweet and innocent and lovable!"

Katie giggled. "Jamie wuv."

He smirked at me. "See? Katie loves me."

"Shut up."

Katie smacked my hand again. "Bad!"

"She's got a hard hit for such a tiny girl," I complained.

"Kenny, need cwothes."

"Does she want more clothes?" Jo asked, frowning slightly.

I nodded. "We didn't get her any shirts to go with her pants."

"Shiwts."

"Let's go look at them then," James said cheerfully, leading the way over to the shirts.

I put her back in the cart, following behind him.

James and Jo were already rifling through shirts, trying to find ones in Katie's size that would go with the pants she had already picked out.

Katie beat them to it, finding a red shirt with hearts. "Match?"

"She's already got fantastic fashion sense!" James cheered. "I might have to let her pick out some of MY outfits."

I shook my head and laughed, finding the shirt in her size and putting it in the cart.

"Hey Katie-Bear, how about this one?" James called over to her, holding up another shirt.

She scrunched her nose up. "Ugwy."

"And apparently she doesn't like my taste in clothes," James pouted. "Okay, how about this one?"

She shook her head. "No."

"This one?" he tried again.

"How about this?" Jo asked, holding a purple shirt.

Katie nodded enthusiastically at her. "Pwetty!"

James softly face-palmed, so as not to attract Katie's attention. "I give up. She doesn't like my taste in clothes."

Jo put a hand on his shoulder. "Try finding something in pink, purple or red. Those seem to be her favorite colors."

He paused. "Oh...yeah...I guess we're not raising a tomboy. Okay..." he quickly found a purple shirt and showed it to Katie.

Her eyes lit up.

James smiled widely. "Do you like it Katie-Bear?"

She smiled back at him. "So pwetty."

He smiled happily. "Goody. Do you want it?"

"Pwease?"

"Of course." He put the shirt in the cart and quickly found a pink one.

"Kenny, need cuppy."

"Huh?" Jo asked in confusion.

"She needs sippy cups. We only have that one."

"Oh, okay. We can go look for them then."

"Cuppy!"

We headed over to the dish aisle and began looking for sippy cups for Katie.

"Pidewman!" she cried.

"You want a Spiderman one?" I asked proudly.

She grinned. "Yes, pwease."

I put the cup in the cart.

"Tank you!"

"You're welcome!"

"I wuv Piderman!"

"You do? Me too!"

"Jamie wuv Piderman?"

"I love Spiderman!"

"I thought you loved Batman?" Jo asked.

"I also love Spiderman," James said. "And Superman. And Catwoman."

"Yeah," I grinned. "He LOVES Catwoman."

Katie looked confused as James made a face at me. "Not in front of H. E. R."

"Me Kat," Katie said, pointing to herself.

"Can she spell?" James demanded.

"Umm...I think she can a little. She obviously knew I was spelling her name back in the clothes department. As far as what she can spell, I have no clue."

"And that worries me, especially if you guys keep talking about me like that."

"I don't think she knows what we're talking about," Jo said. "She looked really confused. The only thing she got was cat and thought we were talking about her."

"Awwww...okay," James replied, looking relieved.

"Pwincess!" she pointed.

"Do you want a princess sippy cup?" I asked her.

"Pwease Kenny?"

"Of course Katie-Kat."

"Pwates?"

"Princess plates?"

She nodded. "Pooh Beaw."

"You want Pooh Bear plates?"

"Yes pwease."

I grabbed a set and put them in the cart too.

"Tank you."

"You're welcome."

"Who's your favorite?" Jo asked.

"Can't ask that," I told her.

"Why not?"

"Cuz she has two."

"Spiderman and Winnie the Pooh?"

I shook my head. "She has two favorite characters from Winnie the Pooh."

"Who?"

"Katie who do you love on Winnie the Pooh?" I asked her with a grin.

"Tiggew and Pigwet!"

"Awwww," James cooed. "That's so cute!"

"Wait until you hear this. Katie, why is Tigger your favorite?"

"Bouncy!"

"And why is Piglet your favorite?"

"Wittle wike me!"

"Awwwww," James gushed. "That's so adorable!"

Jo laughed. "She so stinkin' cute!"

Katie shook her head. "No. I smeww pwetty."

"You're so pretty cute," Jo corrected herself with a laugh.

Katie gave her a toothy grin.

"I love her smile!" James cried. "It's so sweet and cute!"

I nodded. "Trust me, I know."

"I could just cuddle her all day!"

"Kenny, puppy?"

"You want a puppy?"

She nodded. "I wike puppies."

"What kind of puppy do you want?"

"Cute!"

"Well, we'll just have to go over to the petshop and get you one," James cooed.

She smiled. "See mommy?"

Jo grabbed my hand.

"N-n-no...n-n-n-not n-n-n-now," I stuttered out.

Her lip trembled. "Why?"

"Because we can't," I whispered. "I'll- I'll explain when we get home."

Katie whimpered. "Want mommy."

"I know you do, sweetie, but...Mommy had to go away."

Her eyes filled with tears. "Mommy no wuv Kat and Kenny?"

"Mommy loves us very much!" I cried, trying not to burst into tears. "She just...she can't be here anymore."

"Then why she weave?"

"Because she was needed somewhere else," I tried.

"But I need her."

"I know you do honey, I need her too, but she can't be here anymore."

Katie started crying. "Find hew!"

"I can't," I whispered. "She's not here anymore. I can't ever find her again."

She cried harder. "Kenny mean!"

"I'm not mean, life's mean," I whimpered. "She was taken away from us and she can never come back to us."

"No!"

"I'm so sorry...She can't come back to us again."

Katie started wailing and Jo lifted her out of the cart, cuddling her.

James placed a hand on my shoulder as I fought against breaking down in the middle of the store.

"Mommy!" Katie cried.

Jo closed her eyes, looking as if she might cry herself. "Shh...I know sweetie. It's okay."

James put a hand to his face. "I think we need to get out of here now before we attract too much attention. We need to go home."

I nodded. "Let's go pay for this and get out of here."

We managed to pay for the stuff without crying, and we headed back out to the parking lot.

Katie was still crying, but not as loud as before.

Jo crawled into the backseat with Katie and James sat up front with me, looking like he was trying to keep his face blank so as not to show any emotion. She buckled Katie into her car seat and turned to the front. "She's falling asleep. She should be out by the time we get home."

"Okay," I said, nodding. "That should buy us some time." I started the engine and headed home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Science-Fantasy93: Awww :( Sorry for the sadness, but it'll get better. And besides, wasn't the Katie-cuteness just plain adorable?
> 
> Jatieluv: Wanna know a secret? I'm pretty sure we cried when we wrote this...
> 
> Science-Fantasy93: I think we did. But we loved writing it nonetheless. So, what'd you think of this chapter? Did you love it? Hate it? Want to marry it? Did it make you laugh? Did it make you cry? Did it not affect you at all? We need to know!
> 
> Jatieluv: That's right, we do. So go on ahead and hit the pretty comment button. It needs some love :)


	3. Naps and Chases

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Science-Fantasy93: Wow. It's a miracle. The next chapter is here! Now! Come and get it people!
> 
> Jatieluv: Yeah...We are sooo sorry for the late update. Honestly, we have been having so many story ideas come to us and we didn't realize how long it had been since the last update...Anyway, there's a ton of cuteness in the chapter.
> 
> Science-Fantasy93: For sure! Katie's just adorable!
> 
> Jatieluv: Completely. And James finds out some interesting things in this chapter...
> 
> Science-Fantasy93: **Cackles evilly** Some very interesting things...
> 
> Jatieluv: Poor guy...But I think it's time we stop and let you read, before we give too much away...Enjoy!

**James' POV**

We finally got inside the house, and we all collapsed on the couch. I felt exhausted, but I knew the worst of it had yet to come.

"What do we do?" Jo asked.

"We figure out some way to break it to her gently," I said softly.

Logan walked into the living room and paused when he saw us. "What's wrong?"

"Some stuff happened at the store," Kendall explained. "I told Katie that Mom isn't coming back..."

He gave us Kendall a sympathetic look and glanced at Katie sadly.

"I just don't know how to break it to her," Kendall sad sadly. "How do I tell her that Mom's dead?"

"I don't know," Logan answered.

"I don't think there's very much we can do," I said.

"Maybe you could try telling her that she's in a better place," Jo suggested.

"Maybe..."

Carlos joined us. "Aww, poor Kit-Kat."

"I know," Kendall agreed.

"You should lay her down somewhere," Logan told him.

Jo nodded in agreement. "Logan's right. I mean, she's going to be upset when you tell her, but I think part of the reason she acted like that is because she didn't have a nap yet."

"I'll take her up to my room," Kendall decided.

"Okay," we all said.

Kendall picked Katie up, and carried her upstairs.

Jo sighed. "Poor thing. Tomorrow's Christmas Eve and she's not going to have her parents."

Logan, Carlos, and I all nodded in agreement.

Jo stood up. "I'm going to call Cami. Her and I can go get some stuff for Katie's room. We'll start working on it soon and surprise her with it on Christmas morning."

"She'll like that," I said, smiling slightly. "We can help, if you want."

She nodded. "Probably a good idea. We'll need your height."

"Okay. Let's head on out."

"Carlos and I will stay here with Kendall," Logan told us. "Just incase."

"Okay," I agreed, and got to my feet. "We'll take my car."

"Okie dokie," Jo said. "I'm gonna go tell Kendall we're leaving."

"Okay," I agreed. "I'll go out and warm up the car, it's freezing out there."

"Okay, thanks," she said, before running upstairs.

I grabbed my keys and headed back out outside. I started the car and began to scrape the ice from the windows.

Jo walked out a few minutes later, placing her cell in her pocket. "Cami said she'll meet us at the store."

"Okay, sounds good." I finished scraping the ice from the windshield, and slid into the driver's seat. The car was nice and warm and comfortable, as opposed to the frigid air outside.

Jo walked around and got in on the passenger's seat.

We buckled up, and I backed out of the driveway, and onto the road.

"This is going to be soo fun!" she said happily.

"Decorating Katie's room? Yeah, it should be. At least we can give her a halfway decent Christmas."

She nodded. "And the shopping! Ohh...she's so cute!"

I laughed, but didn't say anything in reply.

"She is!" Jo insisted. "She's seriously the cutest thing EVER!"

"No, I agree, she is."

"So, when you saw her at, like, 15...what did she look like?"

"Long brown hair, large brown eyes. She was tiny compared to me, she couldn't have been much taller than 5 feet."

"Aww!"

"What?"

Jo smiled. "That sounds sooo cute!"

"She was gorgeous," I admitted.

"Do you think you'll have trouble waiting until she's 18?" she asked.

"Yes," I said reluctantly. "I don't know if I'll be able to do it. I mean, obviously right now it's not a problem, but I think by the time she's 16, the temptation will be too much to resist."

She nodded. "I think eventually Kendall will ease up. I think it's just a lot to take in right now for him. He may drop the promise."

"I hope so. It's not a big deal right now, but in the future, I think it will be."

"He knows that too. And he also knows how strong it can get."

"Yeah..."

Jo gave me a smile as we turned into the shopping center. "It'll work out."

"I hope so." I parked the car and we got out.

Camille was waiting for us by the entrance. "Hey," she said as we walked up to her.

"Hey," Jo and I greeted her.

"How'd clothes shopping go?"

"Don't ask," I said.

"That bad?" she asked as we headed into the store.

"Oh yeah..."

"Kendall told her about their mom," Jo informed her.

"Ohhhh...Oh no! Poor Katie!"

Jo nodded. "She started crying hysterically. And she doesn't even fully understand."

"But she understood enough," I said to Cami. "She thought Kendall was being mean, that he was taking her mom away from her."

Jo nodded. "It all started cuz she said she wanted to show her, her new clothes."

"Oh." Camille made a sad face.

Jo smiled a little. "But she was completely adorable when we were shopping."

"I bet."

She let out a laugh. "Yeah, at one point when Kendall and I were discussing something, she grabbed a bunch of dresses that she liked and threw them in the cart."

"And none of us noticed until we looked back," I laughed.

Cami joined in on the laughter. "Sounds cute. She's completely adorable."

"She is," I agreed, wiggling around a little bit.

Jo and Cami both gave me weird looks.

"Are you okay?" Jo asked.

"I'm fine! I'm just weirdly excited...This must have something to do with the whole mate-thing."

"Umm..."

"Never mind," I groaned.

"Well, it doesn't sound good," Camille giggled.

"Yeah, what exactly do you mean, you're excited?" Jo asked.

"Not like _that_ kind of excited! Just, I don't know, I'm just excited to get her stuff and do stuff for her."

"Ah. Okay," Cami said.

Jo's eyes widened. "Ohmigosh! That's the perfect bed for her!" she cried, before running off.

Camille and I exchanged stunned looks, before hurrying after her.

Jo stopped in front of a bed and turned to us. "Isn't is perfect? Kendall always calls her his little princess!"

"It is," I said. "She'll love it!"

Camille smiled and nodded. "Nice, Jo!"

"Right?"

Jo smiled and looked back at the bed. "Ooh...we should paint her room purple!"

"She'll love that!" I agreed.

"Is that her favorite color or something?" Camille asked.

Jo nodded. "Oh yeah. She loves it."

"I bet she'll be obsessed with it within a couple of years," I put in.

"Probably," she agreed. "She seems like she's already headed there."

"I mean, just look at the clothes she picked out."

"Yeah, but there was also a lot of red."

"True. So maybe we should do something with red in her room too."

"Nah, just stick with pink and purple for now."

"Okay."

"I'll get the bed," Cami told us. "You guys can go ahead and go pick out the purple paint. I'll meet you over there in a few."

"Okay," we agreed, and headed over to the paint section.

A few minutes later, Camille joined us as we decided on a color.

"I'm thinking maybe this color," I tapped my finger against a soft lavender. "Or maybe this one." I pointed to a dusty purple one.

"Go with the lavender," Jo said. "It'll look good with the bed."

"Okay," I agreed, and grabbed the can of paint.

"Alright, so, should we do her bathroom _Winnie The Pooh_?"

"Yes!" I cried.

Jo grinned. "Okay. I saw this really cute bathroom set a few days ago. And me being me, I'm going all out!" She picked out a few more cans of paint. Sky blue, light green, and two smaller cans, one white and one yellow.

Camille and I watched in amusement as she picked everything out and stuffed it all into a large cart.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing. It's just funny to see you doing all this."

She shrugged. "She's so cute and she deserves it. Besides, it'll be fun. And I can't wait to see her face. She's going to be so happy!"

"I know!"

"Okay," Cami said. "Let's go get her bathroom stuff."

"Okay," we agreed, and headed over to that section of the store.

Jo quickly found the _Winnie The Pooh_ set and placed it into the cart, before heading down a little further and picking out a Piglet toothbrush. "Look! Katie's gonna freak!"

"She is!" I began to jump up and down, and then realized what I was doing.

Camille and Jo shared a look, before laughing.

"I can't help it!" I yelped.

"What is wrong with you?" Jo managed to get out.

"It's this whole mate thing! It's got me acting like a 5 year old! I feel ridiculous!"

They both giggled.

"Well, we're done," Jo giggled. "Let's go before you end up doing something else."

"Sounds good. Maybe I can get back to my 21 year old mentality."

Camille shook her head in amusement.

We walked up to the registers, before paying and heading out. We loaded everything into the trunk and backseat of my car.

"Thanks, Cami," Jo told her, pulling her in for a hug.

"No problem," Cami replied, hugging her back. "I'll meet you guys back at the house."

"Okay," she said, climbing into the passenger seat.

I started the car, and we drove off.

"Hopefully Katie's still sleeping when we get back. We can place all of this in her room."

"Yeah," I agreed. "I hope she doesn't notice what we're doing. I mean, she's only 2, but she's sooo smart."

"I know, it's insane!"

"Right? The girl's going to be a freaking genius when she grows up!"

Jo laughed. "Maybe she'll outsmart Logan."

"That'd be nice."

"Could you imagine that? I think it would be kinda scary."

"True. She'd be like the female version of Einstein."

"Insanely creepy. I think she'll be around where Logan is."

"Yeah, hopefully."

We pulled up to the house a few minutes later and got out, carrying everything inside and putting it in Katie's room.

"She's still asleep," Kendall reported, joining us in Katie's room.

"Is she doing okay though?" Jo asked. "I mean, earlier she had a nightmare."

"Yeah, she seems to be. Carlos is in there with her."

Jo smiled at him. "Wanna see what we got her?"

"Yes!"

Her smile widened and she grabbed his hand, leading him over to everything and showed him.

"Oh wow, you guys went all out," he commented.

"Well, Jo did. Cami and I mostly just stood out of the way of the Jo Taylor Express," I cracked.

Jo smiled sheepishly. "I couldn't help it."

"Well, it was fun watching her," Cami cackled.

"You think it's funny watching me, you should see Katie."

"I can't wait to," Camille said eagerly.

Logan walked into the room. "Carlos wanted me to warn you that Katie's stirring. If you don't want her to see anything, you should get out of here."

We all nodded and scurried out of there.

"Kenny!" Katie called from Kendall's room.

Kendall's eyes lit up. "Coming, Katie-Kat!"

"Whewe go?" I heard her ask Carlos.

"He just had to check on something. He's coming," Carlos assured her.

"Kay," she said. There was a pause and then she started giggling.

Kendall hurried into his room, and the rest of us followed.

Katie was jumping on Kendall's bed and smiled cutely at us. "Hi, Kenny!"

"Hi, Katie!"

"Kenny jump?"

"Okay!" he agreed, kicking off his shoes and joining her on his bed.

She giggled again.

We all grinned at each other.

"Aww!" Jo squealed.

"Right?" Camille cried.

Katie stopped jumping and looked up at Kendall. "Wet."

"You need a diaper change?"

She nodded and wiggled around a little bit.

Kendall picked her up. "Well, let's get you changed."

"Kay."

Kendall carried her into the bathroom, where he pulled out a box of diapers.

"Pooh Beaw," Katie said, pointing at the diaper.

I grinned. "Kenny and Jo got them just for you, Katie-Bear."

She smiled.

Kendall quickly changed Katie.

"Tank you."

"You're very welcome," he told her, hugging her.

"I thiwsty."

"I'll get you some milk."

"No miwk."

"Juice?'

She nodded. "Gwape."

"Okay, I'll get you some."

"Pwincess cuppy."

"Okay." Kendall left the room, humming.

Katie looked at the rest of us. "Hi!"

"Hi!" we all chirped back.

She looked at Jo. "Paint?"

"Absolutely!"

"Toes."

"You want your toenails painted?"

Katie nodded. "Pwease?"

"Of course! What color would you like?"

"Puwpwe!"

Jo laughed. "Of course! I'll get my nail polish."

Katie gave her a toothy smile. "Tank you!"

"You're welcome!" Jo dug around in Kendall's room until she found a small jar of purple nail polish.

Katie scooted to the edge of Kendall's bed so her feet were dangling.

Jo grabbed some toilet paper from the sink and spread it out on the floor and around Kendall's bed, to catch any stray drops, and began to brush the paint over Katie's toenails.

"Aww," Cami said. "Look at her tiny little toes."

"I know!" I squealed, and then face-palmed. Great. Now I sounded like a girl. Grrrr...

Katie giggled at me.

I smiled at her.

"Jamie paint?"

"You want me to help paint your nails?"

"No, Jamie paint."

"Uhhh..."

"Jamie want puwpwe?"

I face-palmed again. "Sorry Katie, I don't want my nails painted."

"Why? Jamie pwetty."

"Thank you! I think. But I don't like my nails getting painted. It's not something that boys like," I explained to her.

"Why? Weaw bwack."

"Nope, sorry. It's just not something I like."

"Oh. Logie puwpwe?"

"No! I mean, uh, no thank you."

"Kay."

Kendall walked back in and handed Katie her sippy cup.

"Tank you." She paused. "Kenny paint?"

"Of course!" he cooed.

Logan gave him a strange look. "Seriously?"

"Of course!" Kendall said, beaming. "It'll be fun!"

"You do realize she wants _your nails painted_ , right?" I said to Kendall.

Katie looked up at him expectantly.

Kendall sat down next to her. "Are you going to paint my nails, baby sister?"

She grinned cutely. "Suwe!"

He grinned back. "Yay! Can I have black?"

She nodded. "Kay."

"Okay." He removed his socks and set his feet on the bed, on top of several layers of toilet paper.

"No," she said.

"What?"

"No feet. Hands."

Kendall let out a soft groan. "No hands. Feet."

"No," she whined. "Hands."

"Feet," he replied. "I don't want my hands painted, it feels weird."

"Then Kenny no paint."

"Fine. Then I don't get painted."

"Fine," she said, drinking her juice.

"Fine."

She turned to me. "Jamie dwess-up?"

"How?"

"Wipstick."

"Ummmm, no thank you."

"Kenny wipstick?"

"No thank you."

"Carwos?"

"No thanks."

"Why don't you ask Jo or Cami?" Logan tried.

"No," Katie told him.

"Why not? They like that kind of stuff. Boys don't."

Jo finished Katie's toenails and started painting her fingernails.

"No," Katie said to Logan again.

"Yes," he shot back.

"No!"

"Then no one is going to get lipstick put on them," Logan pointed out.

"Why do you want to put lipstick on us?" I asked her.

"Fun," she answered.

"Not for us."

"Fun fow Kat."

"Not for us, though. Don't you want us to have fun?"

"No."

"Well, that's mean," I told her, pouting.

"You'we mean!"

"No, it's mean for you to not want us to have any fun. We want you to have fun, so why don't you want us to have fun?" I asked her, looking at her with a hurt expression on my face.

"No tawk."

"Fine."

Logan shook his head. "I can't believe you're arguing with a 2 year old."

"Good point, it's pretty ridiculous."

Kendall nodded. "And she probably doesn't even mean it. She's at the stage where she likes that word."

"True. On the bright side, I know I can get annoyed with her. I was starting to wonder if I was going to be stuck being her slave for the rest of eternity."

"Well, now you know."

"You know what stage is next, right?" Logan asked.

"What?" I asked.

"The 'mine' stage."

"Oh no," I groaned.

Logan nodded. "And you better hope she fully gets out of this one before she goes into that one. Otherwise, you'll be dealing with both."

"Aaaaaaaghhhh..."

Jo finished Katie's nails. "There ya go."

"Tank you," she said with a smile.

"And she's back to being sweet," Carlos commented.

"She wasn't mad at me," Jo pointed out.

"No, but she was mad at Kendall and me," I pointed out.

"And she still might be."

"She probably is. Don't they hold major grudges at that age?"

"They can," Logan answered. "I mean, it _is_ called 'terrible twos'."

"So she's probably still mad at us."

"Most likely."

"Oh well. If she wants to dress me up in a dress, that's fine. But I put my foot down at having lipstick smeared on my face."

Katie wiggled her toes and started drinking her juice again.

We all watched her, not looking away.

"Katie?" I said to her. "I'm sorry. I just don't like makeup, that's all."

She ignored me and wiggled her toes again.

"Yep, still mad," I said. "Do I just wait it out?"

Logan shrugged. "I guess."

"Oh well. I'm going downstairs to get some food, I'm hungry."

"Okay."

I headed down to the kitchen, and stuck a couple of frozen burritos in the microwave, before pouring myself a glass of type A blood.

Jo came down a few minutes later, carrying Katie.

I looked up. "Is she hungry?"

She nodded. "Yep."

"What does she want?"

"Kendall and I picked up a few _Gerber Graduates Lil' Entrees_."

"Okay," I said, taking my burritos out of the microwave and grabbing a fork.

Jo grabbed them out of the freezer and showed them to Katie. "Which one do you want?"

"Mac cheese!"

I chuckled. "Mac n' cheese is awesome."

"My mac cheese."

I chuckled again. "Don't worry, I've got my own food."

Jo laughed and put the other ones away, before placing Katie's food in the microwave.

I sat down at the table with my burritos and blood, and dug in.

A few seconds later, everyone else joined us.

"Hi!" Katie chirped.

"She's still not talking to me," I informed them. "Well, actually she is, but she's still mad."

Jo laughed again. "Oh yeah, she told him about _her_ mac cheese."

"Just wait it out," Kendall advised me. "I don't know if she's talking to me either. Hey Katie, can I have a bite of your mac n' cheese?"

"My mac cheese!" she cried.

"I guess she is still mad at me."

Jo chuckled and brought Katie's food over with a little fork. "Here you go, sweetie."

"Tank you."

"You're welcome."

Katie picked up the fork and happily started eating.

I watched her. "Still mad at me?"

She pulled her food closer. "My mac cheese."

"I don't want your mac n' cheese," I reminded her. "I have my own food."

"Kay."

Carlos laughed. "Can I have some of your peas and carrots?"

"No!" she cried. "My peas and cawwots!"

"I think she might already be in the 'mine' stage," Logan said with a laugh.

Kendall groaned. "Awesome."

"How long does the 'mine' stage last?" I asked Logan.

"Depends on the child."

"Hopefully with her it'll go by nice and fast."

"Maybe."

"Well, let's hope so."

Katie took a bite of her peas and carrots.

I finished off my burritos and blood.

Kendall looked at her. "Can I have a sip of your juice?"

"No!"

"And so it starts," I groaned, and took my plate and glass up to the sink, rinsing them off and putting them in the dishwasher.

"Why not?" Kendall pouted. "You shared with me earlier."

"My gwape."

"Fine." He stuck out his bottom lip even more.

Katie sighed. "No wowk, Kenny."

He moaned.

"Get own."

"I don't wanna."

"Then be thiwsty."

"I'm getting blood," Kendall announced, and got to his feet.

Katie watched him, drinking her juice.

He poured himself a glass of blood.

Katie paused after a minute. "Kenny?"

"Yes?"

"No mowe gwape."

"I'll get you some more," Jo told her.

"Tank you."

"You're welcome." She got Katie some more juice, and set the cup back down in front of Katie.

Katie gave her a smile and went back to eating.

I slid back into my chair.

"She's so cute," Carlos cooed.

"Yeah, until she gets mad at you."

"No," Katie said, taking a bite of food. "I stiww cute."

"You're cute, you're just not as cute," I told her.

She looked at me. "Uh huh."

I laughed.

She gave me a toothy smile. "See?"

"I see. But you're mad at me."

"Onwy a wittwe."

"But you are." I pouted at her.

She patted my arm. "It's kay," she said, before taking a bite of her peas and carrots.

"I think I just got forgiven."

Logan laughed. "Possibly. I'm really surprised she's eating her vegetables though."

"Maybe she'll be a vegetarian," I suggested.

Kendall laughed. "Are you kidding? She's my little carnivore."

"She loves meat?"

"Oh yeah."

"What's your favorite kind?" I asked Katie.

"Chicky!"

"Chicken?"

"Yeah," Kendall chuckled, ruffling Katie's hair.

I grinned. "We'll have to have a barbecue sometime."

"Dog?" Katie asked me.

"Ummm...excuse me?"

Kendall burst out laughing.

"Dog cue," Katie said.

"She means hot dog," he explained.

"Oh thank goodness. For a second I wondered what you'd been feeding her," I said to Kendall.

"Gross!"

Katie just stared at us.

"That's what I thought!"

"She doesn't eat real dogs."

Katie's eyes widened. "No eat puppy!"

"I was hoping not! Eeewww..."

She scrunched up her nose and nodded. "Puppy no good."

"No, I'm sure it isn't," I said to her, chuckling slightly.

She grinned and went back to her food.

"So yeah, definitely a barbecue. We'll have hot dogs," I grinned at Katie, "and chicken and steak and hamburgers."

"Fwies?"

"Of course! Oooh, Kendall, has she ever had them deep fried?"

He shook his head.

"She needs to," I said to Kendall. "They're soooooo good."

"I know," he agreed.

Katie finished her food. "Aww gone."

Kendall smiled at her. "What would you like to do now?"

She paused, thinking. "Cowow?"

"Color?"

She nodded.

"Carlos, you have some coloring books, right?" Kendall directed at him.

"Sure do!" he chirped.

"And crayons?"

"Yup."

"Could you go and get them?"

"Yeah." Carlos got up and headed to his room.

I stretched my arms over my head.

Katie looked at Kendall. "Kenny, we have pwobwem."

"What is it, Katie-Kat?"

"No jammies. Kat sweep nakey."

Kendall stared at her. "Okay, you are waaay too young for tha - James, are you okay?"

Rushing colors...Hollow sounds, like a tunnel...

_"Oh my God!" a much older Katie cried as she stretched out in my bed, a single sheet just barely covering up her naked form. "I still can't believe you said that!"_

_I grinned as I plopped down on the bed next to her. "You should know by now that I never believed in sugarcoating things."_

_She stuck her tongue out at me, before straddling me and kissing me._

"What?" I came out of the future and back into the present. "Oh...Oh sh - cr - darn."

Logan looked at me. "Uhh...should we ask?"

I shook my head. "No, probably not. Ummm...excuse me. I need to go splash my face or something. Get that vision out of my head."

Jo looked at me. "Do you want me or Kendall to come with so you can talk about it?"

"Believe me, I do not want Kendall to come with me. No offense," I added to him, "but I like my face the way it is."

"I'm not gonna hurt you." he told me.

"Fine. Whatever. Come on then." I stood up, my chair's legs scraping against the vinyl of the floor, and hurried out of there, not able to look at the 2 year old girl who I had just had a vision about, 16 years or so in the future.

Kendall quickly followed.

I dashed into the bathroom and turned the faucet on cold.

"Are you okay?" he asked again.

"Yeah...I'm fine. It just got a little - a little intense, that's all."

"What happened?"

"It wasn't, like, we were, you know," I said quietly, as I splashed my face. "I think...I think we had just finished. We were in my bed. She said something about how she couldn't believe I would say something like that- she was laughing though, so I guess it wasn't offensive or anything."

He nodded. "That doesn't seem so bad. And believe me, that's nothing compared to what you'll eventually see."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically. "Now I have something else to look forward to." I slumped to the floor, breathing heavily. "She's 2! But...it's so weird, thinking that...thinking about the future...with us, when she's so young. I just can't comprehend it."

"I know. And I'm sorry, but I just felt that as your best friend, I should warn you. It's going to get way more intense."

"Terrific. Swell. And how are you going to put up with this? She's your baby sister! Shouldn't you be beating my head against the wall right about now? I mean, this is stuff that's actually going to happen!"

"I know that, but I know I have no control over what happens, so why bother? Am I completely happy with it? No, I'm not. But clearly she was chosen to be your mate for a reason, so it can't all be bad."

"Yeah, I guess."

"You're one of my best friends. Sure you can be a man whore and a total ass most of the time, but you're a good friend and you _are_ a good person. I trust you with her, but I want to make sure that you're prepared for what's to come."

"Okay." I nodded. "Thanks. How long do you think it'll be before it gets more intense?"

"Not too much longer. I mean, you only just met her, so it's not too bad. But that could change in the next week or two. And I'm telling you now, they're going to drive you insane."

"How insane are we talking?" I asked, scared.

"Remember how I said they'd be more intense? You won't just be seeing them anymore."

"Ummm...excuse me?"

He cracked a small smile. "What I mean is, now when you see them, it'll be like it's actually happening. You'll be looking at it through your own eyes."

"Huh? Like I'm watching TV?"

"Kinda. It's already like you're watch TV. You know how on some shows, they make it look like the character is actually talking to you?"

"Yeah..."

"It'll be like that. You won't see yourself in the vision because it'll be like you're actually there, doing whatever it is that you two are doing. So, say you guys were...you know," he made a face, "it'd be like you were actually...you know."

"Wait- will I actually _feel_ it?"

"Yup, that's why I said it would be more intense. You start to live through them. It's weird and a little hard to explain, but you'll understand when it happens."

I moaned and buried my face in my hands.

He patted my shoulder reassuringly. "I know, I've been there."

"Yeah, I know...And it sucks?"

"It kinda did, especially because Jo and I didn't really know each other all that well. But now?" he grinned. "Now it doesn't phase me."

"Yeah, I bet," I said dryly. "Now you can just text her and tell her to come fuck you."

"Sorry," he winced.

"I won't have that for another 16 years...And I have to put up with that for 16 YEARS! HOLY FUCK! How am I going to put up with that?"

Kendall bit his lip. "Look, I know I made you promise, but if it gets to be too much, you have my permission to break the promise and mate with her at 16, okay?"

I looked up at him. "Wait, seriously?"

He nodded. "Seriously. I know how tough it can get and you have a hell of a long wait. It's okay."

"Well, she probably won't want to anyway," I replied. "I mean, she'll probably still see me like a big brother."

He shook his head. "I don't think so. I think she knows there's something different about you."

"How can you tell?"

"She's my sister. And you made her blush quite a few times today..."

"So?"

"So, I mean, she never really did that before."

"Oh."

"Not that I don't think she'll see you as a brother for a few years, but I definitely think she knows something. Besides, I'm sure by the time she's 12, she'll be crushing on you."

"That'll be an...interesting time..." I commented.

"Definitely."

"Wow...we have some interesting and difficult years ahead of us."

"Agreed. And this next year is going to be a tough one," Kendall sighed.

"Because of- of- of the fire?"

"Partially. But then there's the 'mine' stage, potty training and the list goes on."

I groaned.

Kendall nodded in agreement. "It's going to be hell."

I sighed. "Well, I guess we should probably head back out there..."

"Probably."

"Katie get back here!" I heard Logan yell.

Katie giggled. "No, Wogie!"

We looked at each other, and then dashed out of the bathroom.

She was running around the house in nothing but her diaper, with Logan chasing her.

Kendall and I looked at each other again. Oh dear.

"Katie," Logan whined.

She just giggled again.

"Katie!" I called. "What're you doing, sweetie?"

"I pway with Wogie!"

"Ah, okay." I paused, and then asked. "Are you cold?"

"No, I hot."

"Oh. Ummm...Kendall, you try."

"Katie-Kat," Kendall said, "come on. I thought you wanted to color?"

"No!" she yelled.

"You don't want to color?"

"No!"

"You want Logie to chase you?"

"I am!" he cried.

"How about if you come over here and get dressed again, and we'll all chase you?" I suggested.

"No cwothes!"

"Why not?"

"Don't want them."

"Why not?" I pressed.

"No!"

I groaned. "Why don't you want your clothes, Katie-Bear?"

"No!" she yelled and stomped her little foot.

I pouted at her.

Logan reached for her and she took off again. "She's so fast!" he cried, and then took off after her.

Katie was giggling. "Wogie swow!"

Logan groaned. "How can she be so fast?"

"She's full of energy?" Kendall suggested.

"She's two?" I called after him.

Logan groaned again.

"Maybe we should help," Kendall told me.

I looked at Kendall. "Probably."

"She's running in complete circles, we just gotta cut her off."

"Okay, we'll block her."

Kendall nodded and took one side of the hall, while I took the other.

Shortly after, Katie came flying around the corner and I scooped her up. She giggled and smiled cutely. "Hi, Jamie!"

"Hi Katie-Bear," I replied. "Whatcha up to?"

"Just chiwwen."

"Ah. Cool."

Logan joined us, panting. "Thank you!"

Katie giggled again. "Wogie so swow."

"Nah, you're just fast," I told her, cuddling her.

She leaned into me, resting her head on my shoulder.

"Tired, sweetie?" I asked her.

"No, but I thiwsty."

"Want some juice?"

"Pwease?"

"Okay." I carried her to the kitchen and quickly found the sippy cup she had been drinking from earlier. "Here you go." I gave it to her.

"Tank you, Jamie."

"You're welcome, sweetie."

Jo smiled as the guys joined us. "Don't forget tomorrow is my parents' Christmas Eve party."

"Katie's coming with us, right?" I said eagerly.

"Kat wike pawty!"

"I bet you do," I cooed. "You'll be the life of the party."

She smiled cutely again, giggling.

"We can show you off," I continued, touching my finger to her nose. "People will be so jealous."

Katie grinned. "Kay."

I smiled back.

Kendall chuckled and kissed her forehead.

Jo's smile widened. "We should go out later tonight and get her some pajamas and a dress for tomorrow night."

The rest of us nodded.

Katie sipped lazily on her juice, head still resting on my shoulder.

I absentmindedly stroked her hair, not even really thinking about it.

Carlos grinned at me.

I looked at him questioningly.

"Nothing, you two are just cute," he said.

"Oh. Um...thank you?"

"No problem."

Logan laughed. "You know, one day, you're going to make a great dad."

"Who, me?" I said in surprise.

"Yes."

"Oh. Um..."

"He's right," Kendall agreed.

I shook my head. "You guys are crazy. I'm not cut out to be a dad. Not in the least."

Jo gave me a smile. "That will all change once you and Katie are mated."

"Maybe..."

"And how can you say you're not cut out to be a dad?" Carlos asked. "Look at how you are with Kit-Kat."

"Yeah, but she's my..." I glanced at her. "My M. A. T. E."

"So? She's still pretty much a baby. You're so gentle with her."

"Oh." I looked at Katie again. "Well, I can't imagine being any other way with her."

Logan smiled. "And that's what's going to make you a great dad."

"I guess..."

Katie looked up at me.

I looked at her and smiled.

"Bwue and snuggwe?"

"Well, I can do the snuggle part. I'm not sure about blue, though..."

"She wants to watch _Blue's Clues_ and snuggle," Kendall explained.

"Oh, okay. Is that on TV right now, or do we have DVDs of it?"

"It should be on, On Demand."

"Okay." I brought Katie into the living room and quickly punched up _Blue's Clues_. I turned it on and laid down on the couch with her.

"Who's favowite, Jamie?"

"Blue!" I said cheerfully. "She's so cute!"

"A wittle."

I laughed. "You're cuter than her."

"I know."

I grinned.

Carlos sat down on the floor, chuckling.

I pulled Katie into my lap and she snuggled up to me.

"Who's favowite, Carwos?"

"Green puppy!" he answered.

I laughed.

Katie sat up a little. "Wook! It's Pewiwinkle!"

I chuckled.

"And Genta!"

I chortled again.

Kendall joined us. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, we're just watching _Blue's Clues_ ," I said cheerfully.

"Wook, Kenny! It's Tickety!"

Kendall looked. "It is!"

Katie squealed happily.

We all grinned at each other. At least she seemed to be enjoying herself. We watched TV for a few hours, colored and chased Katie around some more.

At about 9, Katie conked out.

I carried her up to Kendall's room with him.

"Can you stay with her while Jo and I go out?"

"Yeah, of course!"

"Thanks."

"No problem." I reclined on his bed with a book, next to Katie.

He kissed her forehead and headed out.

I smiled over at Katie, although I couldn't help but think about what was in store for us over the next 16 years...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Science-Fantasy93: Awwwww! Wasn't that cute? Aren't James and Katie cute together?
> 
> Jatieluv: Looks like the guys have some interesting years ahead of them...
> 
> Science-Fantasy93: It's hard to figure out which guy to feel sorry for the most.
> 
> Jatieluv: Very true. Well, we hope you guys like this chapter and the Christmas Eve party will be next :) And don't be shy with the comment button, we'd love to know what you think! :D


	4. Christmas Eve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Science-Fantasy93 Hey, everyone! Check it out! A brand new chapter of "My Life as a Vampire" is up! We accept applause, praise, flowers, and chocolate...not that we're picky ;)
> 
> Jatieluv: We're finally posting the chapter with Jo's parent's Christmas Eve party...heehee...
> 
> Science-Fantasy93: Finally...But it's a little bit longer, so we hope that helps to make it up to you guys :)
> 
> Jatieluv: And there's a bunch of cuteness!
> 
> Disclaimer:
> 
> Science-Fantasy93: Hey, Jatieluv, do we own BTR?
> 
> Jatieluv: Sadly, no...But we hope to one day :D
> 
> Science-Fantasy93: There ya go, ladies and gentlemen. We have no claims (sadly) over the guys. But we're working on it, we're working on it.
> 
> Jatieluv: Definitely!
> 
> Warnings: Innuendos and language...Heehee...Especially from Katie...That's right...Baby says her first bad word...Kendall definitely is not a proud big brother...heehee...
> 
> Enjoy! :)

**Jo's POV**

"I can't wait for tonight," I said to Kendall the next morning. "Katie's going to have so much fun!"

He nodded and glanced down at her, smiling. "She's so cute."

Katie snuggled into the pillows, still fast asleep.

I rolled over and gently stroked Katie's hair. "How're you holding up?" I asked him quietly.

"I'm okay. I mean, okay as I can be. I just can't believe all that's happened," he answered.

"You haven't talked about it though," I said, looking at him.

He kept staring at Katie. "What do you want me to say? I just- I have no words."

"Just as long as you're not bottling it in," I replied, and rolled over onto my other side, away from him.

"I'm not," he assured me. "I talked about it a little bit in the bathroom with James when we were at the store."

I laughed. "Well, that just makes it all better, doesn't it?"

He chuckled. "I guess. I mean, I was crying."

I sat up. "You don't get it, do you?"

He blinked up at me. "Get what?"

"This is the kind of thing that keeps therapists in business."

"I don't need a therapist."

"I'm not saying you do."

"Then what are you saying?"

"I'm saying you need to talk about it in more depth with someone. I know it just happened, and you must still be in shock, but after awhile, it's going to really effect you."

"I know that and I'm not trying to push it away. But I have something more important to worry about."

"Well, when it hits you, let us help both you and Katie, okay?"

"Of course."

"Okay, good."

"I'm not going to shut you guys out."

"I hope not." I turned back over so that I could look at him again.

He gave me a smile. "I know I need you guys. But right now, I have to be strong for her."

"Okay. Do what you need to do."

He nodded and turned back to Katie.

She scooted closer to him, snuggling into him.

I smiled at them. She was so cute!

He smiled and wrapped his arm around her, cuddling her to him. "She's so warm," he murmured. "How does someone so tiny, generate so much heat?"

I shrugged. "Toddler internal heater?"

"Maybe," he said, kissing the top of her head. "She still smells really good too."

"I bet."

Carlos bounded into the room. "Is she awake yet?"

"Not yet," Kendall said in a hushed voice.

Carlos pouted.

"Sorry. I'm sure she'll be awake soon."

"Okay." He sulked out of the room.

Kendall and I chortled together.

A few minutes later, Katie stirred. She blinked up at us sleepily.

We smiled at her.

"Good mownin'," she yawned.

"Good morning," we greeted her.

"I wet."

"Then let's go get you changed," Kendall said cheerfully.

"Kay."

Kendall got out of bed and grabbed the necessities out of the bathroom so that he could change Katie.

Deciding to help, she pulled open her diaper.

Kendall shook his head, laughing. "You little clown, you."

She giggled and stood up, diaper free, before crawling off the bed and running out of the room.

Kendall and I exchanged looks, and then I jumped out of bed and we both ran out after her.

Katie giggled and ran down the hall, opening James' door and bursting in. "Hi, Jamie!"

I heard James groan. "Katie, what are you doing in - KENDALL! GET IN HERE, NOW!"

Kendall and I rushed in.

Katie just smiled cutely at all of us.

James had his eyes covered and was turning away from her, apparently trying to prevent another vision.

She somehow managed to get on his bed and sat next to him. "Jamie? What doin'?"

"Kendall," I hissed. "Do something! He's _shaking_!"

Kendall took a step towards them and Katie scooted closer to James.

"Katie," I tried, "James will do whatever you want him to do once you're dressed."

She pouted.

"He, um, he just really wants you to get dressed," I said. "Or at least covered up."

She paused and then crawled under his blanket. "Bettew?"

"You can look," Kendall told him, and James took his hands away from his eyes.

"Much better," he smiled at her, and then groaned. His body went limp, his eyes blank: He was having a vision.

Well, there went that fight.

Katie looked at him curiously. "Jamie?"

The sound of his name seemed to bring him out of the vision.

He panted heavily, his eyes dilated. "Oh God..."

"What happened?" Kendall asked.

James looked at him. "A vision."

"Obviously. What happened in it?"

James looked pointedly at Katie and mouthed, "I don't want her to hear."

Kendall nodded and grabbed Katie, despite her protests and walked out to go put a diaper and clothes on her.

I looked at James. "What happened?"

"I think it was the aftermath of the first time we...you know...She looked younger than in the last vision. She was in my arms, sleeping, and I was just laying there, not quite being able to believe that it had finally happened."

I smiled. "Aww."

"Yeah..."

"That's so cute."

"Thanks," he said sarcastically.

"What? It is. How old do you think she was?"

"She didn't look much older than she did in the first vision, when I was teaching her how to drive. I'd put her at about 16, maybe 17."

I nodded. "Looks like the promise gets discarded."

"Yeah," he said, looking down.

"You okay?"

"No. This little girl...it kind of feels like her life is all planned out for her, with me as her mate. I know what's going to happen 14 years in advance, and she won't."

"James, she'll still have a normal life. Well, sort of. There's nothing normal about any of you guys," I laughed.

"She should know what's going to happen."

"And she will at some point."

"Will she get visions?" James asked me, looking up.

"Yeah, eventually."

"When do you think they'll start?"

"When she's 16. She'll get them when she goes through her transition or whatever you want to call it."

"So she'll know? She'll know that I'm her mate?"

I nodded.

"Oh. Okay. I don't know...it's still weird having visions about Katie 14 years from now, when she's only 2."

"I know. But at least you see things to look forward to. Doesn't that kinda make you happy?"

"It creeps me out. She's 2! I'm not doing a very good job of letting go of that fact."

"Not all the visions will be..umm...like _that_. The possibilities of what you'll see are endless. Hell, you could have another one 5 minutes from now of you two bowling."

He looked up eagerly. "Sweet! Maybe they'll make another movie based on Dan Brown's books and I'll see us watching that! That would be awesome!"

I chuckled. "See? Not so bad, huh?"

"Yeah! Hey, maybe I can see if J.K Rowling decides to write another Harry Potter book!"

Katie came running in, wearing a pink dress. "I dwessed!"

James perked up. "Come here, sweetie!" He held out his arms.

She ran over to him, giggling.

He swept her into his arms and set her in his lap. "You look so pretty in pink," he told her in the kind of voice you reserve for a toddler or a puppy.

She giggled again.

James bounced her on his knee and kissed the top of her head.

She smiled cutely and kissed his cheek.

He smiled back.

"Are there baby kisses going on in here?" Kendall asked playfully as he walked in.

Katie nodded.

"She's so sweet!" James gushed.

Kendall walked over to them and leaned down. "Where are _my_ baby kisses?"

Katie puckered her lips and kissed his cheek.

He beamed. "That's my baby sister."

She looked up at him. "Feed baby sistew?"

"Of course! What would you like?"

"Pop-tawt!"

He nodded. "I'll go make you one."

"No toast."

"You want it just plain?"

She nodded. "No wike hot."

"Wow...okay. I'll go get you one."

"Tank you, Kenny," she said, kissing his cheek again.

He smiled at her. "You're welcome." He headed downstairs to get her her pop-tart.

"Jamie eat?"

"I will in a little while," he told her.

"Kay."

James smiled at her and continued to bounce her on his knee.

Katie giggled and leaned into him.

He hugged her.

Kendall returned a few minutes later and handed Katie a plate with two unheated pop-tarts.

"Tank you." She picked one up and took a bite.

I smiled at Kendall and kissed his cheek.

He smiled at me and chuckled as Katie munched on her pop-tart happily.

"Good?" I asked her.

"Mmm Hmm," she said, taking another bite.

I smiled and slipped my hand into Kendall's.

Katie finished one and then looked at James. "Want?"

"Sure," he said cheerfully.

She smiled at him and passed him the other pop-tart.

He took a bite. "Mmmm, good," he said, exaggerating the happy look on his face for her benefit.

Katie giggled.

Carlos walked in. "Hey, whatcha up- Hey! No one told me she was up!"

"Well, she ran naked into James' room and...yeah..." Kendall said to him.

His eyes widened. "Say what?"

"Yeah, she wanted her Jamie," I said with a laugh. "Naturally, things didn't go so well..."

"Aww! That's kind of cute though."

"Not for James," Kendall replied, laughing. "He had another - " he glanced at Katie. "V. I. S. I. O. N."

Katie looked at Kendall with confusion and curiosity.

James smoothed out her hair and Carlos nodded in realization. "Oh, okay."

Katie looked at Carlos. "Why weaw suit?"

I looked at him, realizing he was wearing swim trunks.

"I'm going swimming! You guys want to come?"

Katie's eyes lit up. "I do!" she cried, before a sad look crossed her face. "I no have suit."

Kendall chuckled at her. "We got you one last night."

Her eyes light up again. "Yay! Tank you!"

"Come on, Katie-Kat," I said to her. "Let's go get you changed."

"Kay," she said, crawling to the end of James' bed.

I picked her up and carried her into Kendall's room. I grabbed her swimsuit and put it on her, before putting on my own and taking her down to the pool.

The guys joined us a few minutes later.

"Aww!" Carlos cooed. "Look at her."

Katie gave him a toothy smile.

I smiled. "Isn't she cute?"

Carlos nodded and ran over, scooping her up. "The cutest!" he said.

Katie squealed and giggled.

Kendall laughed and took her from Carlos, kissing all over her face.

She giggled and grabbed both sides of his face.

I grinned.

Katie pressed a quick, sloppy baby kiss to his lips.

Kendall laughed. "You cutie, you!"

She giggled.

Kendall rubbed his nose against hers.

Katie gave him another baby kiss.

Kendall beamed at her.

She smiled and wiggled in his arms. "Swim!"

"Okay."

Katie wiggled out of his arms and ran over to James.

James scooped her up. "Hi baby!"

"Hi!" she chirped.

"Ready to swim?"

"Uh huh."

"Okay. Does she have any water wings or a tube?" he called over to Kendall.

"Yeah, we got her a little rhino float," Kendall answered, before grabbing it.

"Okay," James replied, before turning back to Katie. "We'll go into the pool in a minute."

"Kay."

Kendall handed the float to James.

James helped Katie into the float and then carried her into the pool, before setting her carefully in the shallow end of the pool.

Logan and Carlos chuckled as they got in the pool.

Katie beamed at them.

"You okay?" James double-checked with her.

"Yep!" she said, moving her little legs under the water.

He laughed, and rolled over, floating on his back.

Carlos walked over to her and started to pull her away.

Katie put a hand over her mouth so James wouldn't hear her laughing.

James immediately straightened up. "Carlos! Bring her back to me!"

"No! She's mine!"

"She's mine!"

"Nope! Sorry, she's mine now!"

Katie giggled.

James glared playfully at Carlos. "But _I'm_ her Jamie."

"Yeah, but _I'm_ her Carwos."

"Yeah, but I made her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich yesterday."

"Yeah, well, I was going to color with her...and I snuggled with her!"

While Carlos was distracted, Logan pulled Katie away, grinning.

"Logan!" James and Carlos both cried.

Logan's grin widened. "Yes?"

"Bring her back!" they cried together.

Katie giggled and clapped her hands.

Kendall and I laughed.

"Nope," Logan told them. "I think I'll keep her."

They both pouted.

Logan pulled her a little further.

James and Carlos launched into attack, with Carlos dunking Logan and James pulling Katie away.

Katie squealed with laughter.

James hugged her. "I got you!"

She giggled.

Logan popped back up and dunked Carlos.

I laughed. "Gonna join in the brawl?" I asked Kendall.

He paused and then launched at them.

I laughed again, and joined James and Katie.

Katie watched them and then placed her hand on James' head, trying to dunk him. She frowned when he wouldn't budge and turned to me. "Kat no do."

I quickly signaled to James what she wanted, and the next time she tried, he let himself go under.

Katie beamed. "I did it!"

"Yes you did!" I cooed to her..

"Kenny! I dunk Jamie!" she said proudly.

Kendall clapped for her. "Congratulations! None of us can ever dunk James!"

Her smile widened. "I awesome!"

James surfaced and attacked her with a wet hug. "Yes you are!"

She giggled. "Jamie wet."

"Yes I am!" he continued to hug her, getting her all wet.

She snuggled into him.

He smiled and snuggled right back.

The guys walked over.

"Let her go," Kendall said.

"Yeah, it's time we finally get you," Carlos added.

James looked at them. "Me?"

"Yes, you," Logan said.

Katie pushed away from James and turned her float around so she was facing them and James was behind her. She narrowed her eyes at them. "You weave Jamie awone!"

My jaw dropped and I cracked up. "She told you guys!"

Carlos looked appalled. "Dude."

"What? She did."

"I know. I wasn't talking to you...I was just saying..."

"What? To who?"

"I was just saying dude. You know when something happens and then you're just like 'dude'..."

"Ah. Of course. It was just the look on your face."

James grinned. "Well, I dare you-"

Katie put her hand up, silencing him. "I got tis."

"Okay then," James said, his grin widening. "My little protector."

Kendall looked stunned. "Wow."

"She's feisty," I commented. "And no one's going to mess with her Jamie." And I cracked up laughing again.

Katie nodded. "My Jamie."

"Trust me," Kendall told me, "I know she's feisty."

"Didn't expect her to be so protective already?"

"Not really. And I've never seen her that feisty before."

Carlos stared at her. "Is it bad that I'm afraid of a 2 year old?"

Katie gave him a toothy grin.

"Considering it's _that_ 2 year old? No," Kendall answered him.

Logan looked at them. "Oh, come on. She can't be _that_ scary."

"She broke Kendall's toe," I told him.

His eyes widened. "That was her?"

"Yep."

"O-oh."

Katie smiled sweetly at us and kicked her little legs under the water again.

"Awww!" James cooed, and hugged her again.

Carlos stared at him. "I feel like I'm in one of those cartoons where the one guy has a cute little sister, but she's really evil..."

"I know what you mean..." Logan agreed.

"Like Jeremy's little sister on _Phineas and Ferb_."

I laughed. "Only you would compared Katie to _Phineas and Ferb_."

"Have you seen Suzy? Katie just totally reminded me of her!"

"Ummm...what?"

"She acts really sweet at certain times, but she always has, like, a motive...it's creepy."

"Ummm..."

Katie giggled and splashed Carlos.

He yelped.

Kendall chuckled. "Hey, this is just like bath time."

Katie splashed him too.

I cracked up again.

Katie grinned.

James also grinned.

Kendall narrowed his eyes playfully at her and lightly splashed her.

She splashed him again.

I continued to laugh. Ahhh, gotta love brothers and sisters.

"Kenny, I cowd."

"Awww. Do you want to get out?"

She nodded.

Kendall pulled her to the edge of the pool and helped her out, climbing out himself.

She waved at us.

We all waved back.

Kendall laughed and grabbed two towels, wrapping them around both of them and headed up to our room to get changed.

James frowned, biting his lip.

"What's wrong?" Logan asked.

"Is it weird that I'm suddenly really lonely?"

"Aww!" Carlos cried, launching himself at James and hugging him.

James' eyes widened. "Not actually what I meant...but okay..."

Carlos pulled away. "Sorry."

I shook my head. "She'll be back down in a minute. I assume we're all getting out anyway, right?"

"Yeah," James said at once, his eyes already a little sad.

I gave him a small smile as I climbed out. I grabbed a towel, wrapped it around me and headed up to the bedroom to get changed.

A few minutes later, we all met up in the living room and watched some TV.

Katie laid down for her nap at about noon and woke up at two.

James was restless until she woke up.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
A few hours later, we all got ready for my parent's party.

I put Katie in her dress and walked her downstairs. "Doesn't she look gorgeous?" I said to the others.

Katie twirled around in her dress.

"You're so beautiful!" James cried.

She smiled at him. "Tank you."

He smiled back, and went back to straightening his tie.

Kendall scooped Katie up. "You're so pretty."

She wrapped her arms around him.

"Awwww!" Carlos cooed.

Kendall smiled and kissed the top of her head as we all headed out to our cars.

I got into the car with Kendall, Katie, and James.

We all got buckled in and Kendall drove to my parent's house. The party was just beginning when we arrived. There were a few cars lining the street, and I could see people moving inside the house.

We all climbed out and Kendall grabbed Katie.

She wrapped her arms around him, clinging to him, as he carried her into the house.

Camille was already here and she walked over to us, squealing when she saw Katie. "Aww! Look at her cute little pigtails! She looks absolutely adorable!"

"Doesn't she?" I agreed.

Katie tucked her head into Kendall's neck.

James chuckled and gently rubbed Katie's back.

She looked up at him.

James smiled at her gently.

My mom and dad joined us a few seconds later.

"Hi Mom, hi Dad," I greeted them as I hugged them both.

"Hi, sweetie," Mom said to me. She looked at Katie and smiled. "And who is this little cutie?"

Katie tucked her head back in Kendall's neck.

"This is Katie, Kendall's little sister," I introduced her.

Mom smiled. "She's precious."

"Thanks," Kendall said, smiling back at her.

Dad laughed. "She's shy, huh?"

"When she first meets new people," Kendall said, also laughing. "She'll warm up to you two soon."

Carlos nudged James and pointed to where a couple of girls were checking him out.

James ignored them and continued to rub Katie's back.

Carlos looked shocked.

"What?" James asked, catching his look.

"Nothing. I'm just surprised you're not going for it."

"For - for them?" he glanced at the girls.

"Yeah."

"Oh, well...I don't think I should leave Katie."

"She has all of us."

He paused. "I don't - I don't know. Do you think I should still...you know...now that I know Katie's my mate?"

"You don't think Katie's not going to have boyfriends?"

James winced. "Good point...Okay, I'll go talk to them. If I disappear for a little while, well, you know..." he winked at Carlos and headed off to talk to the girls with his usual self-assured smirk.

Katie played with Kendall's tie.

He looked down at her. "Bored?"

She nodded. "And hungwy."

"Let's go get you some food."

"Kay."

I smiled and we headed into the kitchen.

"So, what would you like?" Kendall asked Katie, pointing to the array of food.

Her eyes lit up. "Chicky!"

Kendall chuckled and dished Katie up some chicken.

She smiled happily as he sat her down at the table and placed it in front of her.

Carlos, Logan and Cami joined.

"Wook!" she said to them. "I have chicky!"

We dished ourselves up some food and sat down with her.

"We can see," Cami said, smiling at her.

Katie smiled and went back to her chicken. She took a bite and then paused. "Whewe Jamie?"

We all glanced at each other.

"He's meeting some new people," Camille answered her.

"Kay," she said, taking another bite of her food.

Kendall looked at Camille gratefully.

She smiled at him.

I turned to Camille. "So, how was your day?"

"It was good. How was yours?"

"Good. We went swimming with Katie."

"Aww, I'm sure that was fun."

"It was. She was so cute! And she totally stood up for James!"

"Aww!"

Katie nodded. "I Jamie tectow."

Camille chuckled. "What happened?" she asked me.

"The guys wanted to dunk James."

"Onwy me dunk Jamie."

"That's right," I grinned. "He's _her_ Jamie."

Katie nodded. "Yep. My Jamie."

Carlos leaned over and muttered to Kendall and me, "I wonder how she would feel if she knew that another girl was making James _hers_ for the night."

"She wouldn't like that at all," Kendall told him.

"I figured."

Katie finished her chicken and sat back in her chair.

"All finished?" Kendall asked her.

She nodded. "Is Jamie done meeting now?"

"He...he will be in a little while..."

She sighed and sank into her chair.

"You miss him?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sure he'll be back soon."

"Kay."

And sure enough, much to our surprise, James appeared in the kitchen a few minutes later, slightly sweaty, and swaggering a little.

"Someone missed you," Carlos told him.

James smiled at Katie. "Awww! I missed you too!"

She smiled up at him.

He bent down and hugged her.

She hugged him back.

We all smiled at the sight in front of us. Both James and Katie looked extremely happy now that they had been reunited.

Katie wrinkled her nose. "Why smeww funny?"

We all looked at James, who shrugged helplessly at us.

Carlos and Kendall cracked up.

"She called you out," Camille grinned at James.

Katie sniffed again. "Jamie, why smeww wike pewfume?"

"I was meeting some girls who wear _a lot_ of perfume," he quickly hedged.

"Oh."

He looked down.

"Why sad?"

"The perfume doesn't smell that good."

She reached into her little baby purse and pulled out a small plastic bottle of perfume and spritzed James with it. "Bettew?"

He smiled. "Much. Thank you, sweetie."

"Anytime."

His smile widened.

She smiled back cutely.

He sat down and pulled her into his lap.

"I had chicky," she informed him.

"So did James," Carlos hooted.

Katie looked in between them. "How Jamie have chicky?"

We all turned to glare at Carlos.

"What?" he asked. "He did."

"Explain it to her," Kendall retorted.

"I..uhh...Well, it was..uhh..it wasn't chicky...it was cat."

She furrowed her tiny brows. "But he has Kat now."

Logan covered his face, looking both horrified and amused. "Oh my gosh..."

"You're really bad at this," James told Carlos.

Katie nodded. "I so confused."

"We know," I said to her, laughing a little.

She pouted.

"Awwww!" James wrapped her up in a big bear hug.

"Kenny, have cookie?" she asked him.

"James had a coo-" Carlos started saying, but Kendall glared.

Katie huffed. "Carwos, you confusing me even mowe. Fiwst Jamie has chicky, then he has Kat, now he has cookie?"

"Wow, I ate a lot," James commented with a wicked gleam in his eyes.

"Gross," Logan said.

Katie looked up at James. "Awe you stiww hungwy?"

He bounced her on his knee and kissed the top of her head as Carlos said,

"He's always hungry."

James rolled his eyes, and then said, "You know what? I could go for some _food_."

Katie blinked up at him. "Want chicky?"

"Sure," he said with a sweet smile.

"Kenny, get Jamie chicky pwease..."

James smiled at him innocently.

Kendall got James a plate of chicken.

"Tank you," Katie said to him.

"You're welcome," Kendall said, although he looked a little disgruntled over the fact that his little sister had just made him get food for his best friend.

She beamed up at him.

He smiled back.

She looked up at James. "Want cut?"

"Sure."

"Kenny..."

Kendall scowled at James. "Stop enjoying this!"

He blinked at Kendall innocently. "Who, me?"

"Kenny," Katie warned. "Be nice."

Kendall pouted. "Do I have to?"

Katie pouted back. "Pwease?"

Kendall sighed. "Okay."

"Tank you," she chirped.

He cut up James' chicken for him, as James hid a grin behind his hand.

Logan chuckled and shook his head.

"You're such a good big brother," I cooed to Kendall.

"I know."

James started in on his chicken.

"Good?" Katie asked.

"Very good," James responded.

Carlos grinned. "I bet all that _meeting_ made you hungry."

"You know me - _meeting_ people always helps me work up an appetite."

Katie looked at them. "Meeting peopwe make me sweepy."

James chuckled. "Meeting people gets tiring."

She nodded in agreement.

James kissed the top of her head again.

She smiled and turned to Kendall. "Whewe baby cookie?"

"In Jo's purse," Kendall told her.

"And fwuit puffs?"

"Uhhhh..."

She made a sad face. "No fwuit puffs?"

"I have some in my purse," I told Katie.

She smiled. "And nana cookies?"

I pulled out the different snacks from my purse.

"Whoa," Carlos said. "How many snacks does she need?"

Katie huffed. "I wike vawiety."

"I see..." Carlos replied, eyes wide.

She nodded and pointed to her yogurt melts.

"You're all set," James told her with a laugh.

She grinned.

We all laughed as she tore into the snacks.

Katie offered James a yogurt melt.

He grinned and took one.

She looked up at him expectantly and didn't notice the face Kendall made.

He swallowed it without too much difficulty. "Not bad," he said with a nod.

"You're kidding me!" Kendall cried.

Katie turned to him, eating another yogurt melt.

James shook his head. "It tasted just fine to me."

Kendall snatched one up and ate it.

"Hey!" Katie cried. "That's mine!"

I grinned at Kendall. "Sorry you did that?"

He cringed. "Oh yeah..."

Carlos and Logan cracked up as he made a face at the taste.

James grinned. "Take it like a man, dude!"

"It's so bad!" Kendall jumped up and ran to the sink, turning the water on and sticking his tongue under the faucet.

Katie giggled like crazy.

"If I could eat it, so can you!" James called after him.

Kendall whined.

James cackled.

"Is it really that bad?" Logan asked.

"You have no idea!" Kendall hollered.

"Can I try one, Kat?" Logan asked her.

She nodded and picked one up, gently placing it in his hand.

He popped it in his mouth, and a second later, cringed. "That's soooo bad!"

"I told you!" Kendall cried.

"Eeeewww..." Logan groaned.

Katie handed one to Carlos. "Hewe."

He looked at us with a scared look, but put it in his mouth. "Ohmigosh...that's horrible..."

"Can I have another one?" James asked Katie.

"Suwe!" She handed him one.

He popped it in his mouth.

Logan and Carlos made a face.

James just smirked at them.

"How are you eating that?" Kendall demanded. "It's awful!"

"Tastes just fine to me," James said with a shrug.

"You're weird."

He shrugged again, just as a couple of girls walked into the kitchen.

"There you are!" one of them cried. "Awwww! Is that your friend's sister? You're such a sweetheart!" She placed a giant kiss on James' cheek.

Katie looked up at her. "Who you?"

"One of James' friends," the girl said sweetly.

"Oh. Want mewt?"

"Sure!"

Katie beamed and handed her one.

She slid it into her mouth, and then gagged.

"How come everyone thinks the melts taste so bad?" James wanted to know.

"How come you're the only one, besides Katie obviously, that thinks they taste okay?" Kendall retorted.

He shrugged. "No idea."

The girl sneered. "You may be awesome in bed, you have horrible taste in food."

Katie looked at him curiously. "Jamie go bed?"

The girl smirked, and then she and her friend left the room.

"Jamie have chicky in bed? Kat in bed? Or cookie in bed?" she asked, looking completely confused.

Logan and Carlos burst out laughing.

"One day," Camille said to her, "he's going to have Kat in bed."

"Nice, Cami," I clucked.

Katie looked at her, before turning back to James. "Kat sweep Jamie?"

James gripped the table, his eyes going blank again. Another vision.

Katie watched him curiously.

He came out of it, and the next instant, he had gone under again.

Katie poked him.

A few seconds later, James jolted back to reality. "Sh - I mean, wow..."

"What happened?" Logan asked.

"A - a double vision..."

"We saw...But what happened?"

"The first vision...I don't know what triggered it...the second one made more sense..."

"Okay..."

"The first one was weird...I guess she was about twelve, and she had just walked in on me with...another girl," James explained. "She was really upset and I was comforting her and trying to understand why she was freaking out so much. The second one...well, it isn't for her big brother's ears..."

"I'm leaving the room," Kendall declared.

James nodded, and Kendall headed out.

"She's going to like some really _freaky_ stuff when it comes to sex," James told us all quietly.

"What's that?" Katie asked, staring up at him cutely.

James' eyes widened.

"Jamie, what sex?"

I could see James fighting furiously against another vision. I scooped Katie up and carried her out to Kendall.

"Jo, what sex?"

"Not something you need to worry about yet," I told her quickly. "It's a big people word."

"But it's a wittle wowd."

"I know, but it has a big people meaning."

"Teww me."

"Not yet, sweetie."

"Hi, Kenny," she said as we approached him.

"Hi, Katie-Kat," he greeted her.

"She's asking questions," I told him. "About S.E.X. And it sent James into a third vision."

His eyes widened. "She's not supposed to ask about that yet!" he whined.

Katie blinked at him.

"I know, I know."

She reached for him.

Kendall took her from me.

"Kenny, what sex?"

"You're too young to be asking that," Kendall groaned.

"Can you show me?"

I busted out laughing as Kendall stuttered out a "N-n-n-n-no!"

"Why not?" Katie whined.

"It's not something you show people. It's private."

Katie paused and then looked down, pointing to her area.

"Something like that," Kendall admitted.

She cocked her head. "What happens?"

I cackled. "Have fun explaining it to her."

He glared at me, before turning back to her. "Uhhh.."

"Does it huwt?" she asked.

"Nope."

"It no huwt?"

"For you it will," I told her gently. "It hurts girls."

Her eyes widened. "Me no have sex."

Kendall nodded. "Good."

Katie looked up at him. "No sex with diapew, wight?"

"Right. You're too young for it. It's a big people thing."

"Kay."

We both nodded.

"I go back to Jamie now?"

"Sure."

She smiled.

Kendall carried her back into the kitchen, and handed her to James.

"Hi, Jamie. I no have sex," she informed him.

"I'm glad to hear that," he replied, laughing a little.

She nodded. "It huwts."

"Ahhhh..."

"Dwink?"

"Sure. What do you want?"

"Juice!"

"Okay." James looked at me. "Do you have any in that monstrous purse of yours?"

I rolled my eyes and pulled her sippy cup out of my purse. I grabbed the grape juice out of my parent's fridge and poured some into Katie's cup, before handing it to her.

"Tank you."

"You're welcome."

She started drinking her juice.

James cuddled her.

She leaned into him.

James smiled contentedly.

The girls came back.

Katie looked at them.

We all turned to face them.

Katie stopped drinking and lowered her sippy cup. "What want?"

The girls stopped in front of James.

"We want you to come upstairs with us," one of the girls said to him suggestively.

"No," Katie told them. "My Jamie."

"How about sharing?" the other girl suggested to Katie.

"No! Mine!"

James nodded. "I'm her Jamie," he told the girls.

"That is seriously weird," the first girl informed him.

"You'we weird," Katie informed her.

"I am not!"

"Awe too!"

"How am I weird?"

"You dwess funny."

"How?"

Katie sighed. "You'we dwess is ugwy. You need hewp."

The girl sniffed, and marched out of there.

"Bye!" Katie waved.

The girl kept on walking.

Katie stared after her. "Bitch."

"Katie!" Kendall gasped.

"What?" she asked cutely.

"You don't say that word! It's a very, _very_ bad word!"

Her eyes filled with tears and her lower lip trembled.

James hugged Katie tightly.

She started crying.

James looked at Kendall reproachfully.

Kendall looked helpless. "What? It's not like I wanted her to cry. I was just trying to tell her she can't say that. She's a little girl, she cries easily."

"I know," I patted his arm. "James just can't stand seeing her cry."

Katie sniffled and cried quietly in James' arms.

He stroked her hair, murmuring reassuringly to her.

"Where did you hear that word?" Kendall asked her softly.

"Wots of peopwe," she answered, wiping her eyes.

James kept on stroking her hair.

Katie pushed away a little and sat up fully.

"Feeling better?" Camille asked her.

She nodded.

"Good."

"What ewse we do?" she asked me.

"Well...we can always play a game."

Her eyes lit up a little. "What game?"

" _Candy Land_?"

"I wove that game!"

I grinned.

"I caww bwue!"

We all laughed.

"What?"

James just kissed the top of her head again, grinning too.

"What?" she asked again.

"You're so cute," he gushed.

She giggled.

"I'll go get the game," I volunteered.

"Alright," Kendall said, smiling.

"How's this going to work?" Carlos asked. "There's only 4 pieces."

Katie looked at him. "They'we gingewbwead men!"

"I guess three of us play with her," James said with a shrug.

"We could always be on teams," Logan suggested.

"Okay," Camille agreed at once. "I call Logie's team!"

"Okay. So, you and I on one team. Jo and Kendall. Katie and James. And Carlos gets his own piece- sorry," he said, seeing Katie's look. "He gets his own gingerbread man."

Katie nodded in satisfaction.

We all smiled and gathered around the table tightly.

"I go fiwst!" Katie chimed.

"Says who?" Kendall teased.

"The instwuctions. I the baby, I go fiwst."

"Sounds good to me," James said cheerfully.

Katie grabbed the blue gingerbread man. "Pick."

Kendall grabbed the green one, Logan grabbed the red one, and Carlos grabbed the yellow one.

Katie put hers and James' gingerbread man on the starting space.

I shuffled the cards and placed them on the table where everyone could reach.

Katie grabbed one. "I win!"

"What?" we all said together.

She showed us the card. "I go castwe. I win!"

Our eyes all widened. That had to be the shortest game of _Candy Land_ ever.

She beamed and moved the blue gingerbread man to the castle. "We win, Jamie!"

James grinned and held up her hand in his, signaling victory. "We're triumphant!" he roared.

Carlos pouted. "That's so unfair."

Kendall picked up the cards. "You're not allowed to shuffle anymore," he told me.

"It's not my fault she picked the card!" I cried. "I want a new partner. I get Camille!"

Logan looked at Kendall. "I guess we're partners now."

Kendall made a face. "Don't ever say that to me again..."

"I want Kit-Kat!" Carlos cried.

"She's mine!" James cried. "But you can partner with us."

"But then there will be an extra gingerbread man," Camille pointed out. "He'll be fine. Maybe he'll win this time."

"Maybe..."

Kendall shuffled the cards and placed them back down.

Katie smiled happily and picked up a card. "Two puwpwes."

James moved the gingerbread man to the second purple.

"You'we tuwn," she told me.

I picked up a card. "One green."

Camille moved our gingerbread man to the green space.

Kendall picked up the next card. "One red," he pouted.

"Why are you pouting?" I asked. "You passed me and Cami."

"I'm not in front."

Logan face palmed. "Carlos, do you want to be Kendall's partner?"

"No. I'm gonna win all by myself," he declared.

Logan groaned.

Carlos picked up a card and pouted. "One Purple."

James grinned. "Sucks for you."

Katie picked up another card. "I win!"

"What?" we all turned to look at her again.

She had the castle card again.

"We win!" James yelled.

She clapped.

"I can't play with you two anymore," Kendall pouted, arms crossed.

Katie looked at him. "Aww, Kenny. Want mewt?"

"No thanks," Kendall said with a shudder.

"Fwuit puff? They'we good."

"Sorry, Kit-Kat, I don't like them."

She paused. "Nana cookie?"

He shook his head again.

She sighed. "Fine. I quit."

James chuckled and kissed the top of her head again. "What should we do now?"

Carlos pouted with Kendall. "How does she keep winning?"

"She's lucky?"

"Obviously!"

"Come on, let's go watch a movie or something," I interrupted.

"There's a party going on," Kendall reminded me.

"So? We can watch something up in my room."

"You don't want to mingle with people?"

I shrugged. "Not really. I'm getting tired of people asking me stupid questions."

"But what about showing off Kat's cuteness?" Logan asked.

I sighed. "Okay. Let's go."

Katie looked up at us.

James stood up with her in his arms.

"Whewe go?"

"We're going to go show you off."

She blinked at him.

"You're so cute, we can't keep you all to ourselves," James said to her with a huge smile.

She grinned.

"Want to ride on my shoulders?" he asked her.

She shook her head.

"Okay."

We headed into the living room.

James immediately began chatting with people, introducing Katie.

"She's so cute," they gushed.

"Right?" James agreed happily. "She's adorable."

"We had no idea you had a daughter."

"Oh, she's not my daughter," James assured them, looking a little traumatized by the idea. "She's Kendall's baby sister."

"Oh. Now that you mention it, I can kinda see the resemblance."

James narrowed his eyes a little. "Uh huh...it sure is uncanny, isn't it?"

Katie looked between them.

James offered them a chipper smile, before moving on. "We're going to find some smarter people to talk to," he told her.

She giggled.

He tickled her tummy.

She laughed.

He lifted her higher on his hip and she wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
The next couple hours were spent talking and introducing Katie to people.

Katie ended up falling asleep in James' arms.

James kept her in his arms the entire evening, smiling and talking quietly with people, stroking Katie's hair if she seemed to be waking up.

"We should probably head home," Kendall said. "We have to get her room done before she wakes up in the morning."

We all nodded in agreement. We said goodbye to my parents and headed home.

Kendall put Katie in his room, and James offered to stay with her.

I took her dress off, changed her diaper and put her pajamas on her.

She shifted, and then curled up into a warm little ball.

I smiled. "She's so adorable," I said quietly.

"I know," James agreed softly.

Kendall kissed her head and we left the room. We walked into Katie's room and started getting the paint ready. We readied the room, and got started. We painted her room and her bathroom.

Once we were finished, I turned to Kendall. "Do you want to go get presents for her while this is drying?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding.

"Do you need presents for anyone else or did you get all that done already?"

"I already got it done," he replied as he headed out of the room.

"Okay," I said, following behind him.

We went to the store and picked up quite a few things for her. We even called the guys and asked them what they wanted to give her.

Let me tell you this, the girl was already being spoiled.

We paid for everything and went home. Once we got there, we wrapped all her presents and stuck them under the tree, before going upstairs to finish her bedroom and bathroom.

It was going to be a long night. But it was going to be worth it.

Katie was going to be so happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Science-Fantasy93: Awww! Isn't Katie adorable? Baby's first bad word...She needs an ornament with that on it ;)
> 
> Jatieluv: Heehee...As bad as it is, you know it's always cute and funny when they say something they shouldn't...
> 
> Science-Fantasy93: Always. Anyway, let us know what you guys think! We love hearing from you! And we're so sorry it took us so long to update!
> 
> Jatieluv: Very, very sorry! :)

**Author's Note:**

> Science-Fantasy93: Awwww! Sniffs. That was so adorable! I want Katie!
> 
> Jatieluv: Me too. We really hope you guys like it. And for everyone who reads Addicted, the next chapter is getting ready to enter the editing phase and we should have it posted soon. :)
> 
> Science-Fntasy93: So...review? Please? For Katie and James? Oh, and for Jatieluv and me, but mostly for Katie and James?
> 
> Jatieluv: We all appreciate your feedback! :)


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